Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Laid aside; rejected: as, cast-off livery.
  • noun In firearms, the outward bend of a gun-stock, by which the line of sight is brought inward to meet the eye more readily.
  • noun In printing, the computation of the particular space to be allowed for each column or division of a table, a piece of music, or the like: as, to pass the cast-off (that is, to communicate to other compositors the result of such a computation).

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Cast or laid aside; thrown away; discarded.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Alternative spelling of castoff.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb make the last row of stitches when knitting
  • verb get rid of
  • adjective thrown away

Etymologies

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Examples

  • As has always been true, the coexistence of idling workplaces and cast-off workers remains the single most severe indictment of capitalism as a system for the reproduction of human society.

    Steve Fraser: Uncle Sam Doesn't Want You Steve Fraser 2011

  • As has always been true, the coexistence of idling workplaces and cast-off workers remains the single most severe indictment of capitalism as a system for the reproduction of human society.

    Steve Fraser: Uncle Sam Doesn't Want You Steve Fraser 2011

  • It did not help that his favorite companion was a cast-off girl called Little Mouse who had a way with vermin.

    Rites of Passage « A Fly in Amber 2009

  • Fortunately, the company has an existing back-up plan for cast-off characters with an existing marketing campaign: Dazzler joined the X-Men.

    Ubisoft Has A Crystal Ball! SVGL 2009

  • Pushed through the mess to rifle among the cast-off treasures.

    Earl of Durkness Alix Rickloff 2011

  • The trees, he soon came to realize, were not trees at all, but rather the cast-off antlers of the caribou, though far larger than any antlers he had ever seen before.

    Caribou House « A Fly in Amber 2009

  • I remember the day that our cast-off, lovingly rehabbed Ampex color videotape machine finally "synced up" (or "locked up") and started working.

    Walter and me (Jack Bog's Blog) 2009

  • I remember the day that our cast-off, lovingly rehabbed Ampex color videotape machine finally "synced up" (or "locked up") and started working.

    Jack Bog's Blog: July 2009 Archives 2009

  • Still, very gradually, the days became unglued, loosening and flapping in the wind that swept the desert in a turmoil of cast-off spines and seed pods.

    The Silence 2010

  • It meant very few clothes – a patched skirt and shirt of her mother's, her father's cast-off thermal underwear when they were in the wash.

    The Saturday interview: Caitlin Moran 2011

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