English edit

Alternative forms edit

Etymology edit

From Middle English ofcasten, equivalent to off- +‎ cast. Cognate with Danish afkaste (to shed), Swedish avkasta (to crop, throw off, yield).

The noun is possibly derived from Middle English ofcast (the refuse of plants).

Verb edit

offcast (third-person singular simple present offcasts, present participle offcasting, simple past and past participle offcast)

  1. (transitive) to cast off; shed.
  2. (transitive, theater, television) to remove from the cast of a production.
    • 1985, Tino Balio, The American film industry:
      The experiment to offcast Davis began in 1937 with That Certain Woman; "She's a lady," we are told.
    • 1997, Ann M. Sperber, Eric Lax, Bogart:
      [...] and Paramount was not inclined to offcast its stars, the story was dropped.
    • 2015, Emily Carman, Independent Stardom:
      White actresses were able to maintain a more multidimensional star persona than actresses of color, thanks in large part to their ability to off-cast themselves in challenging roles and control their off-screen image through publicity.

Noun edit

offcast (plural offcasts)

  1. That which is rejected as useless.

Anagrams edit