the last cast

Cast \Cast\, n. [Cf. Icel., Dan., & Sw. kast.]
   1. The act of casting or throwing; a throw.
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   2. The thing thrown.
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            A cast of dreadful dust.              --Dryden.
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   3. The distance to which a thing is or can be thrown. "About
      a stone's cast." --Luke xxii. 41.
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   4. A throw of dice; hence, a chance or venture.
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            An even cast whether the army should march this way
            or that way. --Sowth.
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            I have set my life upon a cast,
            And I will stand the hazard of the die. --Shak.
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   5. That which is throw out or off, shed, or ejected; as, the
      skin of an insect, the refuse from a hawk's stomach, the
      excrement of a earthworm.
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   6. The act of casting in a mold.
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            And why such daily cast of brazen cannon. --Shak.
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   7. An impression or mold, taken from a thing or person;
      amold; a pattern.
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   8. That which is formed in a mild; esp. a reproduction or
      copy, as of a work of art, in bronze or plaster, etc.; a
      casting.
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   9. Form; appearence; mien; air; style; as, a peculiar cast of
      countenance. "A neat cast of verse." --Pope.
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            An heroic poem, but in another cast and figure.
                                                  --Prior.
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            And thus the native hue of resolution
            Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought.
                                                  --Shak.
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   10. A tendency to any color; a tinge; a shade.
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             Gray with a cast of green.           --Woodward.
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   11. A chance, opportunity, privilege, or advantage;
       specifically, an opportunity of riding; a lift. [Scotch]
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             We bargained with the driver to give us a cast to
             the next stage.                      --Smollett.
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             If we had the cast o' a cart to bring it. --Sir W.
                                                  Scott.
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   12. The assignment of parts in a play to the actors.
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   13. (Falconary) A flight or a couple or set of hawks let go
       at one time from the hand. --Grabb.
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             As when a cast of falcons make their flight.
                                                  --Spenser.
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   14. A stoke, touch, or trick. [Obs.]
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             This was a cast of Wood's politics; for his
             information was wholly false.        --Swift.
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   15. A motion or turn, as of the eye; direction; look; glance;
       squint.
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             The cast of the eye is a gesture of aversion.
                                                  --Bacon.
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             And let you see with one cast of an eye. --Addison.
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             This freakish, elvish cast came into the child's
             eye.                                 --Hawthorne.
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   16. A tube or funnel for conveying metal into a mold.
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   17. Four; that is, as many as are thrown into a vessel at
       once in counting herrings, etc; a warp.
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   18. Contrivance; plot, design. [Obs.] --Chaucer.
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   {A cast of the eye}, a slight squint or strabismus.

   {Renal cast} (Med.), microscopic bodies found in the urine of
      persons affected with disease of the kidneys; -- so called
      because they are formed of matter deposited in, and
      preserving the outline of, the renal tubes.

   {The last cast}, the last throw of the dice or last effort,
      on which every thing is ventured; the last chance.
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