▪ I. ˈupcast, n.
Also 9 dial. upkest.
[up- 2. Cf. MDa. opkast in sense 6.]
1. A chance or accident. rare.
| 1611 Shakes. Cymb. ii. i. 2 Was there euer man had such lucke? When I kist the Iacke vpon an vp-cast, to be hit away? 1619 Drayton Legends, P. Gaveston cvii, Only some small force..For vs to trust to, Fortune had vs left, On which our Hopes, vpon this Vpcast lay. 1897 Rhoscomyl White Rose Arno 131 Pengraig..hoped that he might by some marvellous upcast succeed in overhauling the escaped scoundrel. |
2. Sc. and north. dial. A reproach or taunt; a ground or occasion of reproach.
| 1681 R. Fleming Fulfilling of Script. (ed. 3) 51 This did never occasion bitter reflexions, or was their upcast before the World. 1681 P. Forman in Thomson Cloud of Witnesses (1871) 205 Ye are an upcast to poor sufferers. 1825 Brockett N.C. Gloss. s.v. 1863 J. L. Watson By-gone Days 124 If she will only come back again, she will never get an upcast frae me nor mine. 1878– in Eng. Dial. Dict. (Sc., Cumb., N. Irel.). |
3. Mining and Geol. An upward dislocation or shifting of a seam or stratum; a fault caused by this. (Cf. upcast ppl. a. 3.)
Used in contrast to downcast or downthrow.
| 1793 [Earl Dundonald] Descr. Estate of Culross 31 The Proprietors..found their Coals after working to a certain depth, thrown up to the north, by an up-cast, as it is commonly called. 1839 Murchison Silur. Syst. i. xxxvii. 510 The upcasts of the various coalfields. 1842 Sedgwick in Hudson's Guide Lakes (1843) 200 A great cleft or ‘fault’..producing such an enormous ‘upcast’ towards the N.E., that the carboniferous beds..are on the other side of it. 1872 W. S. Symonds Rec. Rocks v. 148 The extraordinary upcast of Silurian rocks in Marloes Bay. |
4. upcast shaft (or upcast pit), the pit-shaft by which the ventilating air of a mine is returned to the surface.
| 1816 [see downcast n. 2]. 1839 Ure Dict. Arts 987 The air of the upcast pit being rarefied by the heat. 1867 W. W. Smyth Coal & Coal-mining 207 If a really large volume of air be required, we must heat the full height of the column in the upcast shaft. |
| ellipt. 1839 Ure Dict. Arts 971 Pit of ventilation or upcast for the smoke. 1864 A. Miller Rise & Progr. Coatbridge xxv. 169 The air..is conveyed round the whole of the workings, and guided by air courses to the upcast. |
b. A casting or hurling upward; a cast or throw in an upward direction.
| 1890 Nature 6 Nov. 16/1 The ‘upcast’ to which the air must be subject in a cyclone. |
5. Sc. An upset.
| 1824 Scott St. Ronan's xxviii, What wi' the upcast and terror..my head is sair eneugh distressed. |
6. Material thrown up in digging, etc.
| 1883 Whitelaw Sophocles, Antigone 250 No mattock's stroke indeed, Nor spade's upcast was there. 1891 G. Neilson Per Lineam Valli 3 Outside..there lies a vast heap of promiscuous earth, the ‘upcast’ from the trench. |
▪ II. upˈcast, v.
[up- 4. Cf. cast v. 83 and MSw. up-, opkasta, Sw. uppkasta, (M)Da. opkaste in sense 3.]
† 1. trans. To utter loudly. Obs.
Cast up also occurs in this sense in ME.
| 13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 1574 Þis cry was vp-caste, & þer comen mony Clerkes out of caldye. a 1400 Rom. Rose 7129 The vniuersite..Gan forto braide..at the noys the heed vpcast. |
† 2. To open or turn up (the eyes). Obs.
| 1390 Gower Conf. II. 103 His slombrende yhen he upcaste, And seide [etc.]. |
3. To cast, throw, or toss up.
| c 1386 Chaucer Man of Law's T. 808 (Lansd. MS.), Att þe last..Custance and eke hir childe þe see vpkast. 1390 Gower Conf. III. 314 At Ephesim the See upcaste The cofre. 1608 Topsell Serpents 269 The female..Out of web-breeding-belly..vp-casting twine. 1850 Blackie æschylus II. 180 This brave Capaneus..upcasts Loud billowy boasts in Jove's high face. 1862 Lytton Str. Story II. 352 The atoms up⁓cast by the light of the moon. 1875 Morris æneid i. 84 The winds..driving down upon the sea its lowest deeps up⁓cast. |
† 4. Sc. To throw or force open (a gate). Obs.
| c 1425 Wyntoun Cron. viii. xi. 1757 All þe ȝettis þai vpkest [v.r. wpcast], To lat þaim entir. 1533 Bellenden Livy v. viii. (S.T.S.) II. 176 The portis [war] brokin and vpcassin. |
5. Sc. and north. dial. To bring up against one; to cast in one's teeth; to allege as a fault.
| 1825 Brockett N.C. Gloss., Upcast, to upbraid. 1850 Blackie æschylus II. 186 Thy brother too..He whips with keen reproaches, and upcasts With bitter taunts his evil-omened name. 1865– in Eng. Dial. Dict. (Sc., N. Irel., Northumb., etc.). |
▪ III. ˈupcast, ppl. a.
[up- 5. In predicative use upˈcast.]
1. Of the eye or look: Turned or directed upwards.
| c 1402 Lydg. Compl. Bl. Knt. 216 Lying in a traunce. With loke up-cast. 1412–20 ― Chron. Troy iv. 1481 With eye vp-cast in rancour and in Ire. 1676 Dryden State Innoc. ii. ii, Beasts with up-cast eyes forsake their Shade. 1715 Addison To Sir G. Kneller 61 Old Saturn too with upcast eyes Beheld his abdictated skies. 1816 Keats ‘I stood Tip-toe’ 122 Lover of loneliness,..Of upcast eye, and tender pondering! 1887 J. Ker Serm. Ser. ii. xiv. 210 With that upcast look to Christ's face. |
2. Raised up, prominent. rare—1.
| 1658 A. Fox tr. Wurtz' Surg. ii. x. 87 Do not stitch [the wound];..it would cause an ugly up-cast scarr. |
3. upcast dyke (in mining), = upcast n. 3.
| 1810 J. Bailey Agric. Durham 29 They are denominated up-cast dykes, and down-cast dykes, as the strata are cast up or down, according to the direction in which the colliery is working. 1825 E. Mackenzie View Northumbld. (ed. 2) I. 82 When the miner finds the vein he has been working thrown below his feet, he calls it a Downcast Dike; but if it be thrown upwards it is then an Upcast Dike. |
4. Cast, thrown, or tossed upwards.
| 1823 J. Baillie Poems 260 The mighty Geyser's up⁓cast stream. 1827 Carlyle Richter, Misc. (1840) I. 29 Close by their outer churchyards, where crumbled upcast coffin-boards were glimmering. 1892 Pall Mall G. 21 Sept. 6/1 The usual upcast spray of water [of a fountain]. |