different between last vs cast

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: läst, IPA^(key): /l??st/
• (General American) enPR: l?st, IPA^(key): /læst/
• (Northern England) IPA^(key): /last/
• (Scotland) IPA^(key): /?ast/
• Rhymes: -??st, -æst

Etymology 1

From Middle English laste, latst, syncopated variant of latest.

Adjective

last (not comparable)

1. Final, ultimate, coming after all others of its kind.

2. Most recent, latest, last so far.

   .   (archaic usage)

3. Farthest of all from a given quality, character, or condition; most unlikely, or least preferable.

4. Being the only one remaining of its class.

5. Supreme; highest in degree; utmost.
   • 1802, Robert Hall, Reflections on War

     Contending for principles of the last importance.

6. Lowest in rank or degree.

Synonyms

• (final): at the end, caboose, dernier (dated), final, tail end, terminal, ultimate, lattermost
• (most recent): latest, most recent

Derived terms

Translations

Determiner

last

1. The (one) immediately before the present.

2. (of days of the week or months of the year) Closest in the past, or closest but one if the closest was very recent; of days, sometimes thought to specifically refer to the instance closest to seven days (one week) ago.

Usage notes

• (both senses): This cannot be used in past or future tense to refer to a time immediately before the subject matter. For example, one does not say I was very tired yesterday, due to not having slept well last night: last night in that sentence refers to the night before the speaker is speaking, not the night before the "yesterday" to which he refers. He would need to say I was very tired yesterday, due to not having slept well the night before or the like.

Translations

Adverb

last (not comparable)

1. Most recently.
2. (sequence) after everything else; finally

Synonyms

• (after everything else): finally, lastly; see also Thesaurus:lastly

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English lasten, from Old English l?stan, from Proto-Germanic *laistijan?. Cognate with German leisten (“yield”).

Verb

last (third-person singular simple present lasts, present participle lasting, simple past and past participle lasted)

1. (transitive, obsolete) To perform, carry out.
2. (intransitive) To endure, continue over time.

   • Thus the red damask curtains which now shut out the fog-laden, drizzling atmosphere of the Marylebone Road, had cost a mere song, and yet they might have been warranted to last another thirty years. A great bargain also had been the excellent Axminster carpet which covered the floor; […].

3. (intransitive) To hold out, continue undefeated or entire.

Synonyms

• continue
• endure
• survive

Antonyms

• disintegrate
• dissipate
• fall apart
• wear out

Related terms

• everlasting
• lasting

Translations

Etymology 3

From Old English læste, Proto-Germanic *laistiz. Compare Swedish läst, German Leisten.

Noun

last (plural lasts)

1. A tool for shaping or preserving the shape of shoes.
   • 2006, Newman, Cathy, Every Shoe Tells a Story, National Geographic (September, 2006), 83,

     How is an in-your-face black leather thigh-high lace-up boot with a four-inch spike heel like a man's black calf lace-up oxford? They are both made on a last, the wood or plastic foot-shaped form that leather is stretched over and shaped to make a shoe.

Derived terms

• cobbler, keep to your last

Translations

Verb

last (third-person singular simple present lasts, present participle lasting, simple past and past participle lasted)

1. To shape with a last; to fasten or fit to a last; to place smoothly on a last.

Etymology 4

From Middle English last, from Old English hlæst (“burden, load, freight”), from Proto-Germanic *hlastuz (“burden, load, freight”), from Proto-Indo-European *kleh?- (“to put, lay out”). Cognate with West Frisian lêst, Dutch last, German Last, Swedish last, Icelandic lest.

Noun

last (plural lasts or lasten)

1. (obsolete) A burden; load; a cargo; freight.
2. (obsolete) A measure of weight or quantity, varying in designation depending on the goods concerned.
   • 1624, John Smith, Generall Historie, in Kupperman 1988, page 114:

     Now we so quietly followed our businesse, that in three moneths wee made three or foure Last of Tarre, Pitch, and Sope ashes [...].

   • 1866, James Edwin Thorold Rogers, A History of Agriculture and Prices in England, Volume 1, page 169,

     The last of wool is twelve sacks.

3. (obsolete) An old English (and Dutch) measure of the carrying capacity of a ship, equal to two tons.
   • 1942 (1601), T D Mutch, The First Discovery of Australia, page 14,

     The tonnage of the Duyfken of Harmensz's fleet is given as 25 and 30 lasten.

4. A load of some commodity with reference to its weight and commercial value.

Derived terms

• belast
• ballast

Translations

Further reading

• last at OneLook Dictionary Search
• last (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• last on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Alts, LTAs, SALT, Salt, TLAs, alts, lats, salt, slat

Danish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /last/, [lasd?]

Etymology 1

From Middle Low German last.

Noun

last c (singular definite lasten, plural indefinite laster)

1. cargo
2. cargo hold, hold (cargo area)
3. weight, burden

Inflection

Synonyms

• (cargo): ladning
• (hold): lastrum

Etymology 2

From Old Norse l?str

Noun

last c (singular definite lasten, plural indefinite laster)

1. vice

Inflection

Etymology 3

See laste (“to load, carry”) and laste (“to blame”).

Verb

last

1. imperative of laste

Further reading

• last on the Danish Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^da

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /l?st/
• Rhymes: -?st

Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch last, from Old Dutch *last, from Proto-Germanic *hlastuz.

Noun

last m (plural lasten, diminutive lastje n)

1. load, weight
2. burden
3. hindrance, problem
4. expense
5. (law) requirement, duty
6. (dated) A measure of volume, 3 cubic meter

Derived terms

• belasten
• lastdrager
• last hebben van
• lastpost
• ten laste leggen
• vaste last

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the main entry.

Verb

last

1. second- and third-person singular present indicative of lassen
2. (archaic) plural imperative of lassen

Anagrams

• stal

Estonian

Noun

last (genitive lasti, partitive lasti)

1. cargo

Declension

Noun

last

1. partitive singular of laps

Faroese

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /last/

Etymology 1

From Old Norse l?str

Noun

last f (genitive singular lastar, plural lastir)

1. vice

Inflection

Etymology 2

From Middle Low German last.

Noun

last f (genitive singular lastar, plural lastir)

1. cargo
2. cargo hold, hold (cargo area)

Inflection

German

Pronunciation

Verb

last

1. second-person singular/plural preterite of lesen

Icelandic

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /last/
• Rhymes: -ast

Noun

last n (genitive singular lasts, no plural)

1. blame

Declension

Synonyms

• (blame): baktal

Derived terms

• guðlast (“blasphemy”)

Related terms

• lasta (“to blame”)

Middle Dutch

Etymology

From Old Dutch *last, from Proto-Germanic *hlastuz.

Noun

last m or f or n

1. load, weight
2. task, duty, obligation
3. tax (money)
4. (emotional) difficulty, sorrow
5. a unit of volume

Inflection

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Descendants

• Dutch: last
• Limburgish: las

Further reading

• “last”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
• Verwijs, E.; Verdam, J. (1885–1929) , “last”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, ?ISBN

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology 1

From Middle Low German last

Noun

last f or m (definite singular lasta or lasten, indefinite plural laster, definite plural lastene)

1. a load or cargo

Derived terms

Etymology 2

Verb

last

1. imperative of laste

References

• “last” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Middle Low German last

Noun

last f or m (definite singular lasta or lasten, indefinite plural laster or lastar, definite plural lastene or lastane)

1. a load or cargo

Derived terms

References

• “last” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Old English

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *laistaz, along with the feminine variant l?st. Cognate with Middle Dutch leest (Dutch leest), Old High German leist (German Leist), Old Norse leistr (“foot, sock”) (Swedish läst, Danish læst).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /l??st/

Noun

l?st m (nominative plural l?stas)

1. footstep, track

Declension

Derived terms

• wræcl?st

Related terms

• l?stan

Slovene

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *volst?.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lá?st/

Noun

l?st f

1. property

Inflection

Swedish

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

Noun

last c

1. cargo
2. load; a burden
3. load; a certain amount that can be processed at one time
4. (engineering) load; a force on a structure
5. (electrical engineering) load; any component that draws current or power
6. habit which is difficult to get rid of, vice

   Rökning var hans enda last

Declension

Derived terms

See also

• (cargo): lasta, lastbil
• (habit): vana, ovana

Descendants

• ? Finnish: lasti

Anagrams

• lats, salt, stal, tals

English

Etymology

From Middle English casten, from Old Norse kasta (“to throw, cast, overturn”), from Proto-Germanic *kast?n? (“to throw, cast”), of unknown origin. Cognate with Scots cast (“to cast, throw”), Danish kaste (“to throw”), Swedish kasta (“to throw, cast, fling, toss, discard”), Icelandic kasta (“to pitch, toss”). In the sense of "flinging", displaced native warp.

The senses relating to broadcasting are based on that same term; compare -cast.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation): enPR: käst, IPA^(key): /k??st/
• (Northern England): enPR: k?st, IPA^(key): /kast/
• (General American): enPR: k?st, IPA^(key): /kæst/
• Rhymes: -??st, -æst
• Homophones: caste, karst

Verb

cast (third-person singular simple present casts, present participle casting, simple past and past participle cast or (nonstandard) casted)

1. (physical) To move, or be moved, away.
   1. (now somewhat literary) To throw. [from 13^thc.]
      • 1623, William Shakespeare, The Two Gentlemen of Verona:

        Why then a Ladder quaintly made of Cords / To cast vp, with a paire of anchoring hookes, / Would serue to scale another Hero's towre […].

      • 1760, Laurence Sterne, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, p.262:

        The more, an' please your honour, the pity, said the Corporal; in uttering which, he cast his spade into the wheelbarrow […].

   2. To throw forward (a fishing line, net etc.) into the sea. [from 14^thc.]
      • 1526, Bible, tr. William Tyndale, Matthew 4:

        As Jesus walked by the see off Galile, he sawe two brethren: Simon which was called Peter, and Andrew his brother, castynge a neet into the see (for they were fisshers) […].

   3. To throw down or aside. [from 15^thc.]
      • 1611, Bible, Authorized Version, Matthew VI.30:

        it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.

      • 1930, "Sidar the Madman", Time, 19 Dec.:

        Near Puerto Limon, Costa Rica, Madman, co-pilot and plane were caught in a storm, cast into the Caribbean, drowned.

      • 2009, Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall, Fourth Estate, 2010, p.316:

        Her bow is not to her liking. In a temper, she casts it on the grass.

   4. (of an animal) To throw off (the skin) as a process of growth; to shed the hair or fur of the coat. [from 15^thc.]
   5. To cause (a horse or other large animal) to lie down with its legs underneath it.
   6. (obsolete except in set phrases) To remove, take off (clothes). [from 14^thc.]
      • 1822, "Life of Donald McBane", Blackwood's Magazine, vol.12, p.745:

        when the serjeant saw me, he cast his coat and put it on me, and they carried me on their shoulders to a village where the wounded were and our surgeons […].

      • 2002, Jess Cartner-Morley, "How to Wear Clothes", The Guardian, 2 March:

        You know the saying, "Ne'er cast a clout till May is out"? Well, personally, I'm bored of my winter clothes by March.

   7. (nautical) To heave the lead and line in order to ascertain the depth of water.
   8. (obsolete) To vomit.

      • These verses […] make me ready to cast.

   9. (archaic) To throw up, as a mound, or rampart.

      • Thine enemies shall cast a trench [bank] about thee.
   10. (archaic) To throw out or emit; to exhale.
       • 1695 (first published), 1726 (final dated of publication) John Woodward, An Essay toward a Natural History of the Earth and Terrestrial Bodies

         This […] casts a sulphurous smell.

   • 1849, Philip Henry Gosse, Natural History

     This horned bird, as it casts a strong smell, so it hath a foul look, much exceeding the European Raven in bigness

2. To direct (one's eyes, gaze etc.). [from 13^thc.]
   • 1595, William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 3:

     To whom do Lyons cast their gentle Lookes? Not to the Beast, that would vsurpe their Den.

   • 1813, Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, I.11:

     She then yawned again, threw aside her book, and cast her eyes round the room in quest of some amusement […].
3. (dated) To add up (a column of figures, accounts etc.); cross-cast refers to adding up a row of figures. [from 14^thc.]
   • 1594, William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 2:

     The Clearke of Chartam: hee can write and / reade, and cast accompt.

   • 1719, Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe

     I cast up the notches on my post, and found I had been on shore three hundred and sixty-five days.

4. (social) To predict, to decide, to plan.
   1. (astrology) To calculate the astrological value of (a horoscope, birth etc.). [from 14^thc.]
      • , vol.1, New York Review of Books, 2001, p.309:

        he is […] a perfect astrologer, that can cast the rise and fall of others, and mark their errant motions to his own use.

      • 1971, Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic, Folio Society, 2012, p.332:

        John Gadbury confessed that Mrs Cellier, ‘the Popish Midwife’, had asked him to cast the King's nativity, although the astrology claimed to have refused to do so.

      • 1985, Lawrence Durrell, Quinx, Faber & Faber 2004 (Avignon Quintet), p.1197:

        He did the washing up and stayed behind to watch the dinner cook while she hopped off with a friend to have her horoscope cast by another friend.

   2. (obsolete) To plan, intend. [14^th-19^thc.]
      • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, II.i:

        I wrapt my selfe in Palmers weed, / And cast to seeke him forth through daunger and great dreed.

      • 1685, William Temple, "Upon the Gardens of Epicurus

        The cloister […] had, I doubt not, been cast for [an orange-house].

   3. (transitive) To assign (a role in a play or performance). [from 18^thc.]

   4. (transitive) To assign a role in a play or performance to (an actor).

   5. To consider; to turn or revolve in the mind; to plan.

      • She […] cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.

   6. (archaic) To impose; to bestow; to rest.
      • Cast thy burden upon the Lord.

   7. (archaic) To defeat in a lawsuit; to decide against; to convict.
      • 1822, John Galt, The Provost

        She was cast to be hanged.

      • 1667, Richard Allestree, The Causes of the Decay of Christian Piety

        Were the case referred to any competent judge, […] they would inevitably be cast.

   8. To turn (the balance or scale); to overbalance; hence, to make preponderate; to decide.
      • 24 July, 1659, Robert South, Interest Deposed, and Truth Restored

        How much interest casts the balance in cases dubious!

5. To perform, bring forth (a magical spell or enchantment).
6. To throw (light etc.) on or upon something, or in a given direction.
   • 1950, "A Global View", Time, 24 April:

     The threat of Russian barbarism sweeping over the free world will cast its ominous shadow over us for many, many years.

   • 1960, Lawrence Durrell, Clea:

     A sudden thought cast a gloom over his countenance.

7. (archaic) To give birth to (a child) prematurely; to miscarry. [from 15^thc.]
   • , Folio Society, 2006, vol.1, p.98:

     being with childe, they may without feare of accusation, spoyle and cast [transl. avorter] their children, with certaine medicaments, which they have only for that purpose.

   • 1646, Sir Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica, V.20:

     The abortion of a woman they describe by an horse kicking a wolf; because a mare will cast her foal if she tread in the track of that animal.

9. To shape (molten metal etc.) by pouring into a mould; to make (an object) in such a way. [from 15^thc.]
   • 1923, "Rodin's Death", Time, 24 March:

     One copy of the magnificent caveman, The Thinker, of which Rodin cast several examples in bronze, is seated now in front of the Detroit Museum of Art, where it was placed last autumn.

   1. (printing, dated) To stereotype or electrotype.
10. To twist or warp (of fabric, timber etc.). [from 16^thc.]
    • c. 1680, Joseph Moxon, The Art of Joinery

      Stuff is said to cast or warp when […] it alters its flatness or straightness.

11. (nautical) To bring the bows of a sailing ship on to the required tack just as the anchor is weighed by use of the headsail; to bring (a ship) round. [from 18^thc.]
12. To deposit (a ballot or voting paper); to formally register (one's vote). [from 19^thc.]
13. (computing) To change a variable type from, for example, integer to real, or integer to text. [from 20^thc.]

14. (hunting) Of dogs, hunters: to spread out and search for a scent. [from 18^thc.]
    • 1955, William Golding, The Inheritors, Faber and Faber, 2005, p.50:

      He clambered on to an apron of rock that held its area out to the sun and began to cast across it. The direction of the wind changed and the scent touched him again.

15. (medicine) To set (a bone etc.) in a cast.

    (Can we add an example for this sense?)

16. (Wicca) To open a circle in order to begin a spell or meeting of witches.
17. (media) To broadcast.

Conjugation

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Noun

cast (plural casts)

1. An act of throwing.
2. (fishing) An instance of throwing out a fishing line.
3. Something which has been thrown, dispersed etc.

   • a cast of scatter'd dust

4. A small mass of earth "thrown off" or excreted by a worm.

5. The collective group of actors performing a play or production together. Contrasted with crew.

   He’s in the cast of Oliver.

   The cast was praised for a fine performance.

6. The casting procedure.

   The men got into position for the cast, two at the ladle, two with long rods, all with heavy clothing.

7. An object made in a mould.

   The cast would need a great deal of machining to become a recognizable finished part.

8. A supportive and immobilising device used to help mend broken bones.

   The doctor put a cast on the boy’s broken arm.

9. The mould used to make cast objects.

   A plaster cast was made from his face.

10. (hawking) The number of hawks (or occasionally other birds) cast off at one time; a pair.
    • 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, VI.7:

      As when a cast of Faulcons make their flight / An an Herneshaw, that lyes aloft on wing […].

11. A squint.
    • 1847, John Churchill, A manual of the principles and practice of ophthalmic medicine and surgery, p. 389, paragraph 1968:

      The image of the affected eye is clearer and in consequence the diplopy more striking the less the cast of the eye; hence the double vision will be noticed by the patient before the misdirection of the eye attracts the attention of those about him.

    • 2011, Thomas Penn, Winter King, Penguin 2012, p. 7:

      Arriving in Brittany, the Woodville exiles found a sallow young man, with dark hair curled in the shoulder-length fashion of the time and a penchant for expensively dyed black clothes, whose steady gaze was made more disconcerting by a cast in his left eye – such that while one eye looked at you, the other searched for you.

12. Visual appearance.

    Her features had a delicate cast to them.
13. The form of one's thoughts, mind etc.

    a cast of mind, a mental tendency.

    • 1894, Wilson Lloyd Bevan, Sir William Petty : A Study in English Economic Literature, p. 40:

      The cast of mind which prompted the plan was permanent, and in it are to be found both the strength and the weakness of Petty's character.

    • 1992, Hilary Mantel, A Place of Greater Safety, Harper Perennial 2007, p. 330:

      I have read all her articles and come to admire both her elegant turn of phrase and the noble cast of mind which inspires it; but never, I confess, did I look to see beauty and wit so perfectly united.

14. An animal, especially a horse, that is unable to rise without assistance.
15. Animal and insect remains which have been regurgitated by a bird.
16. A group of crabs.
17. A broadcast.

Derived terms

• castless
• plaster cast

Translations

Further reading

• cast at OneLook Dictionary Search
• cast in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• ACTs, ATCs, ATSC, Acts, CATs, CTAs, Cats, STCA, TACS, TCAS, TCAs, TSCA, acts, cats, scat

Catalan

Etymology

From Old Occitan [Term?], from Latin castus, possibly borrowed or semi-learned.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central, Valencian) IPA^(key): /?kast/

Adjective

cast (feminine casta, masculine plural casts or castos, feminine plural castes)

1. chaste

Related terms

• castedat

Further reading

• “cast” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [k??st]
• Hyphenation: cast

Etymology 1

Borrowed from English cast.

Noun

cast m (plural casts, diminutive castje n)

1. cast (people performing a movie or play)

Synonyms

• rolbezetting
• rolverdeling

Related terms

• casten

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the main entry.

Verb

cast

1. first-, second- and third-person singular present indicative of casten
2. imperative of casten

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from English cast.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?kast/
• Hyphenation: càst

Noun

cast m (invariable)

1. cast (group of actors performing together)

Manx

Adjective

cast

1. contorted, curly, curved
2. complex, intricate, many-sided
3. ticklish

Mutation

Derived terms

• castid
• castys
• neuchast
• yl-chast

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin castus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kast/

Adjective

cast m or n (feminine singular cast?, masculine plural ca?ti, feminine and neuter plural caste)

1. chaste, clean, pure

Declension

Synonyms

• pur

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?kast/, [?kast?]

Noun

cast m (plural casts)

1. cast (group of actors)