cast
1.
a. a throw at dice
b. the resulting number shown
2. Angling
a. a trace with a fly or flies attached
b. the act or an instance of casting
3.
a. the actors in a play collectively
b. (as modifier): a cast list
4.
a. an object made of metal, glass, etc., that has been shaped in a molten state by being poured or pressed into a mould
b. the mould used to shape such an object
5. a fixed twist or defect, esp in the eye
6. Surgery a rigid encircling casing, often made of plaster of Paris, for immobilizing broken bones while they heal
7. Pathol a mass of fatty, waxy, cellular, or other material formed in a diseased body cavity, passage, etc.
8. the act of casting a pack of hounds
9. Falconry a pair of falcons working in combination to pursue the same quarry
10. Archery the speed imparted to an arrow by a particular bow
11. a computation or calculation
12. Palaeontol a replica of an organic object made of nonorganic material, esp a lump of sediment that indicates the internal or external surface of a shell or skeleton
13. Palaeontol a sedimentary structure representing the infilling of a mark or depression in a soft layer of sediment (or bed)
Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005
cast
[kast] (engineering)
To form a liquid or plastic substance into a fixed shape by letting it cool in the mold.
Any object which is formed by placing a castable substance in a mold or form and allowing it to solidify. Also known as casting.
(medicine)
A rigid dressing used to immobilize a part of the body.
(navigation)
To turn a ship in its own water.
To turn a ship to a desired direction without gaining either headway or sternway.
To take a sounding with the lead.
(optics)
A change in a color because of the adding of a different hue.
(paleontology)
A fossil reproduction of a natural object formed by infiltration of a mold of the object by waterborne minerals.
(physiology)
A mass of fibrous material or exudate having the form of the body cavity in which it has been molded; classified from its source, such as bronchial, renal, or tracheal.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
cast, staff
In plastering, a shape, usually decorative, made in a mold and then fastened in place.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Architecture and Construction. Copyright © 2003 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
CAST
(1)Computer Aided Software Testing
cast
(2)This article is provided by FOLDOC - Free Online Dictionary of Computing (foldoc.org)
anycast
A technique for updating routing tables in IPv6, the next generation of IP addressing. Anycast sends a message to the nearest router within a group. That router in turn sends it to its nearest router. Starting in 2003, additional root servers on the Internet were replicated using the Anycast method. See IPv6 and root server.autocasting
Automatically converting the text on a blog into speech so that it can be downloaded as a podcast. See podcast.blogcasting
Microsoft's term for podcasting, presumably to avoid using the word "pod," which refers to Apple's extremely popular iPod. See podcast.Bluecasting
Advertising to users with Bluetooth cellphones. As people walk within the vicinity of a store and Bluetooth is turned on in their phones, a message can be sent to the phone that entices them to come inside. See Bluetooth glossary.broadcast
(1) To transmit to every receiver within a geographic area. Over-the-air TV and AM and FM radio are examples of broadcast networks. Contrast with narrowcast.(2) To transmit to every node on a local network or subnetwork. Broadcasts are commonly used to announce that network resources are now turned on and available, to advertise services and to make requests for address resolution. See broadcast address, multicast, broadcast traffic, address resolution, ARP, SLP and broadcast domain.
casting
(1) A variety of functions that transmit or convert data. See anycast, autocasting, blogcasting, Bluecasting, broadcast, multicast, narrowcast, podcast and Webcast.(2) Sending the content that appears on a computer or mobile screen to a TV. Casting implies wireless transfer. See screen mirroring, AirPlay, Miracast and Chromecast.
(3) In programming, the conversion of one data type into another; for example, from an integer to a string or vice versa. The casting statement in the source code of a program causes the compiler to generate the machine code that performs the actual conversion. See data type, integer and string.
Chromecast
A streaming device from Google with built-in Wi-Fi. Chromecast streams content to the TV from Netflix, YouTube, Google Play and Spotify, as well as the Chrome browser via the Google Cast extension. The content playing on the user's phone, tablet or computer is said to be "cast" to the TV. Starting with the second generation Chromecast, wired Ethernet is supported with a separate adapter. Chromecast can also be linked to Google's home assistant to operate the TV by voice (see Google Nest). See screen mirroring.Introduced in 2013 at $35, the first batch sold out immediately. The second-generation model lets users watch video on the TV while listening to audio on headphones plugged into their mobile device. In addition, high-res music support (see 96/24) was added along with multi-room capability by plugging Chromecast units into two or more speaker systems.
Music Via Chromecast
Songs can also be cast to the TV's speakers via Google Play Music apps in Android and iOS devices. However, Google introduced Chromecast Audio in 2015 that works with any non-wireless powered speaker. See Chromecast Audio.
Chromecast vs. Android TV
The initial release of Chromecast offered Netflix and YouTube as the only third-party movie/video providers; however, more media sources were later added. Android TV, on the other hand, is Google's second-generation set-top box and smart TV platform, and it also runs regular Android apps. See Android TV, Nexus Player and HDMI dongle.
 |
| Ready to Cast |
|---|
| Chromecast is always in a ready state waiting for movies/videos, music or Web pages to be "cast" from the user's phone, tablet or computer to the TV. |
 |
| USB for Power; HDMI for Signal |
|---|
| Power comes from a USB port, and this photo shows one next to the HDMI input, but the USB may not be so conveniently located (see image below). This is the first-generation Chromecast unit. (Image courtesy of Google Inc.) |
 |
| The Real World |
|---|
| Not as elegant as the vendor photo above (real implementations rarely are), this Chromecast is plugged into the front HDMI and USB jacks of an A/V receiver. The Wi-Fi extender (red asterisk) improves reception. |
 |
| Second-Generation Chromecast |
|---|
| The second-generation model has improved Wi-Fi reception but also has an optional Ethernet adapter. Instead of colors, the slightly faster third-generation Chromecast is available in only black and white. (Image courtesy of Google.) |
multicast
(1) To transmit data to multiple recipients on the network at the same time using one transmission stream to the switches, at which point data are distributed out to the end users on separate lines.Contrast with Unicast
A "unicast" is a separate transmission stream from source to destination for each recipient. When sending large volumes of data, multicast saves considerable bandwidth over unicast.
Contrast with Broadcast
A "broadcast" is a transmission to every node reachable on the network or subnet, rather than to a specific list of nodes as in a multicast. See IP multicast, IGMP and SRM.
(2) In digital television broadcasting, to send multiple standard TV (SDTV) programs in the allotted bandwidth, rather than one high-definition TV (HDTV) program.
 |
 |
narrowcast
To transmit to selected individuals. Cable TV and satellite radio are examples of narrowcast services because they reach only their subscriber base. Mailing lists are another example. Contrast with broadcast. See multicast.podcast
(iPOD broadCAST) An audio broadcast for playback in the computer or mobile device. A podcast is like a radio program that can be downloaded on demand. Although some are actual radio programs such as the news, podcasts cover the gamut, including fiction, education, politics, interviews, documentaries or a magazine with various sections. Thousands of podcasts are downloaded from the Web via an RSS syndication feed or from sites such as Amazon Music, Apple PodCasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify and Stitcher.A media aggregator program ("podcatcher") such as AntennaPod, gPodder and iTunes captures the audio feeds from the Internet for transfer to the player. See syndication format.
What's a "Pod?"
The "pod" in podcast came from "iPod," the playback device originally targeted. Podcasts are mostly in the MP3 format but can also be AAC. See iPod, MP3 and AAC.
Podcast Everything
Conceived for audio broadcasts, the concept was broadened to include images and video (see photofeed and vidcast). Electronic slide shows are created as podcasts (see enhanced podcast), and "sound seeing" is the audio recording of a person's experiences when traveling. Museums may develop audio tours as podcasts, and students and professors create unauthorized and sometimes controversial narrations of famous works. See autocasting, punchcasting, learncasting and audiobook.
Webcast
(1) See Webinar.(2) To send live audio or video to the user from a website. It is the Internet counterpart to traditional radio and TV broadcasting. See Internet radio and Internet TV.
(3) To send selected Web-based information (text, graphics, audio, video, etc.) to Internet users based on individual requirements. See push technology.
Copyright © 1981-2025 by The Computer Language Company Inc. All Rights reserved. THIS DEFINITION IS FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY. All other reproduction is strictly prohibited without permission from the publisher.
The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.
Cast
an exact reproduction in plaster of paris, wax, or papiermâché of some object. It is usually painted and serves primarily as a visual aid. For example, there are casts of fruits and fish, as well as of normal or pathologically altered organs or parts of the body. Casts are either taken from the object itself or executed by hand according to measurements.
Examples of casts include death masks, reproductions of the hand of a famous musician, and copies of a classical work of sculpture for teaching purposes (hence the phrase, cast studios).
Cast
in paleontology, an imprint that remains in sedimentary rock after the dissolution and decomposition of plants or the bodies or skeletons of animals. Casts have been found of mollusk shells, fish skeletons, jellyfish, leaves, stems, and seeds. Impressions of a whole body, especially of a skeletonless animal, are rarely preserved. (SeeFOSSIL REMAINS OF ORGANISMS.)
Cast
in art, a reproduction of a sculpture, an object of applied art, or some other art object obtained by taking a hard or soft mold of the original and casting a duplicate in plaster of paris, a synthetic material, or some other material. Hard molds may be made from plaster of paris, and soft molds from wax or plastic. Casts are used in museum exhibits, in restoration work, and as an aid in teaching art.
Cast
in paleontology, a type of fossilization of plants and animals in which the actual organic remains, for example, a shell or stem, have disappeared through oxidation or leaching, and the resulting cavity has become filled with sediment. Frequently, the imprint of fine external details may be seen on the surface of a cast. Some parts of the organism may be preserved inside a cast.
The term “cast” is also used to designate an artificial reproduction of a fossil from gypsum or synthetic materials.
The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.