casts

1. 1
   verb

   Third person singular simple present of cast.

   She casts her fishing line far across the calm lake.

   The old streetlight casts long shadows along the empty sidewalk.

   Note

   The only present-tense form of the verb that changes: I cast, you cast, but she casts. In the plain sense of throwing it has a literary ring, and everyday English would say someone throws a stone rather than casts one. Yet it is the natural verb for an angler who casts a line, a snake that casts its skin, or a tree that casts its fruit before it ripens.

2. 2
   noun

   Plural of cast.

   Both casts received standing ovations on opening night.

   The museum displayed plaster casts of several ancient statues.

   Note

   One spelling gathers very different plurals: several throws of a die, an angler's repeated throws of the line, the little heaps of earth that worms leave behind, and whole companies of actors. A cast is already a group, so in the theater casts means separate companies, not separate performers. In that world its working partner is crew, the people who make the production run behind the scenes.

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