cast-offn.2
Gunnery.
The ‘twist’ of a gun-stock, the extent to which the stock is thrown laterally out of the line of the longitudinal axis of the barrel.
ΚΠ
1881 W. W. Greener Gun & its Devel. 249 He adjusts the bend or crook of the gun, and the amount of cast-off.
1881 W. W. Greener Gun & its Devel. 432 The object of the cast-off is to bring the centre of the barrels in a line with the shooter's eye.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1889; most recently modified version published online March 2018).
cast-offadj.n.1
A. adj.
Thrown off, rejected from use, discarded: as clothes, a favourite, a lover, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > [adjective] > cast-off
casten1493
cast1597
cast-off1746
hand-me-down1826
reach-me-down1861
the mind > possession > relinquishing > casting or laying aside > [adjective] > out of use
cast1598
casteda1616
cast-off1746
left-off1754
put-aside1868
the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > family Equidae (general equines) > horse defined by purpose used for > [adjective] > rejected as unfit for service
cast1579
cast-off1746
1746 in W. Thompson Royal Navy-men's Advocate (1757) 40 Cast-off Hunters, turn'd upon the Road for Post Chaise Service.
1755 Connoisseur No. 80 A cast-off suit of my wife's.
1840 J. S. Mill Diss. & Disc. (1859) I. 235 The cast-off extravagances of Goethe and Schiller.
1840 T. Arnold Hist. Rome II. xxv. 425 The worn and cast off skin.
1848 W. Irving Hist. N.Y. (rev. ed.) iv. x. 241 To strut at his heels, wear his cast-off clothes.
1852 H. Rogers Eclipse of Faith 44 To array your thoughts in the tatters of the cast off [1852 (ed. 2) cast-off] Bible.
B. n.1
1. A person or thing that is cast-off or abandoned as worthless or useless. (For the plural cast-offs is more according to analogy.)
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > relinquishing > casting or laying aside > [noun] > one who or that which is
waif1624
discard1719
discarding1731
cast-off1740
cast-by1818
left-off1865
sloppy seconds1973
1740 S. Richardson Pamela I. xx. 49 And how..must they have look'd, like old Cast-offs.
1850 J. S. Blackie tr. Æschylus Lyrical Dramas I. 82 Thou shalt be From the city of the free Thyself a cast-off.
1867 W. H. Smyth & E. Belcher Sailor's Word-bk. Cast-offs, landsmen's clothes.
1872 C. H. Spurgeon Treasury of David III. Ps. lxxvii. 7 The objects of his contemptuous reprobation, his everlasting cast-offs.
1884 Longman's Mag. Apr. 607 Our horses, casts-off from the flat.
2. Printing. A calculation of the amount of space which will be required by a given amount of copy. (Cf. to cast off 10 at cast v. Phrasal verbs.)
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > printing > preparatory processes > [noun] > estimation of amount
cast-off1898
1898 J. Southward Mod. Printing i. xlii. 263 These two lines must be reckoned for in the cast off.
1917 F. S. Henry Printing for School & Shop iii. 32 If the cast-off leaves but two or three lines on the last page, it is better to have the few previous pages each a line long.
1934 Proc. Brit. Acad. 19 388 In February 1903 fifty Letters of Erasmus were dispatched to the Press for a ‘cast-off’.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1889; most recently modified version published online December 2019).
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n.21881adj.n.11740