▪ I. ˈundercast, n. Mining.
(under-1 5 c.)
| 1883 Gresley Gloss. Coal-m. 266 Undercast, an air course or wind road carried underneath a wagon way or other road. 1886 J. Barrowman Sc. Mining Terms 69 Undercast, the lower of two air courses at an air crossing. |
▪ II. underˈcast, v.
[under-1 5 b, 7, 8, 10 a. Cf. MDa. and Da. underkaste, MSw. undir-, Sw. underkasta.]
† 1. Obs. a. trans. To cast down; to make subject, subdue.
| a 1340 Hampole Psalter viii. 7 All thyngis þou vndirkast vndir his fete. 1382 Wyclif Wisd. xviii. 22 In wrd hym that ouertrauailede hym, he vndircaste. a 1395 Hylton Scala Perf. ii. xxxvii. (W. de W. 1494), Thenne forsakyth he vtterly hymself & vndercastyth hym holy to Jhesu. 1483 Cath. Angl. 259/2 To Ondyr cast, subicere, subiectare. a 1618 Sylvester Mysterie of Myst., The Father 7 Under All things, not under-cast: Over all things, not over-plac't. |
b. To subject to a penalty.
| 1382 Wyclif Exod. xxi. 21 If..he [sc. a servant] lyue over a day, or two, he shal not be vndurcast to that peyne. |
† 2. To cast under or below. Obs.
| c 1440 Pallad. on Husb. iii. 1155 Of vines that forwepe,..the fattest roote away they tere,..And aisel kene is vnderkest in ground. |
† 3. To consider, reflect. Obs.
| 1489 Barbour's Bruce v. 552 (Edin. MS.), Till he..Intill hys hart gan undercast [Camb. MS. vmbecast] That the King had in custome ay For to ryss arly ilk day. |
4. Theatr. To allot (a part) to an inadequate player; to cast (a player) in an insufficient role.
| 1827 J. Boaden Mem. Mrs. Siddons II. xiii. 66 The Anna, by Miss Wheeler, was rather under-cast. 1920 G. B. Shaw Let. in Bernard Shaw & Mrs. Patrick Campbell (1952) 206 Overcasting a part means undercasting an artist. 1957 Observer 12 May 15/2 [The part] is admittedly under-written; that is no reason why it should have been undercast. 1970 New Yorker 22 Aug. 59 Rossellini deliberately undercasts him, as he does every⁓one else. Colbert is made to look uninteresting and rather bourgeois. 1977 Times 9 July 10 The play was woefully undercast. |