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cast up

C1 formal separable transitive
In simple words

To wash something up onto a beach, to bring up an old mistake to make someone feel bad, or to add up numbers.

Literal meaning: To cast (throw) something upward — as waves throw objects onto a beach.

Meanings

1 C1 neutral

(of the sea or waves) To deposit something on a shore; to wash ashore.

"The storm cast up tangled driftwood and old rope onto the harbour wall."

Grammar: separable
2 C1 idiomatic formal

(archaic/literary) To reproach someone by mentioning a past fault or failure.

"She cast up every mistake he had ever made, determined to make him feel guilty."

Grammar: separable
Usage notes

Largely archaic or literary. The sense of reproachfully mentioning past faults is old-fashioned but still understood. The nautical/coastal sense (waves casting debris up) is occasionally used. The arithmetic sense is obsolete.

Commonly used with

shore coast accounts fault past wreckage

Forms

Base
cast up
I/you/we/they
3rd person
casts up
he/she/it
Past simple
casted up
yesterday
Past participle
casted up
have + pp
-ing form
casting up
continuous

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Synonyms

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