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caster

 [kas-ter, kah-ster]   Origin

cast·er

   [kas-ter, kah-ster]
noun Also, castor (for defs. 2–5).
1.
a person or thing that casts.
2.
a small wheel on a swivel, set under a piece of furniture, a machine, etc., to facilitate moving it.
3.
a bottle or cruet for holding a condiment.
4.
a stand containing a set of such bottles.
5.
a metal container for sugar, pepper, etc., having a perforated top to permit sprinkling; dredger; muffineer.
EXPAND
6.
Automotive. the angle that the kingpin makes with the vertical. Automobiles are usually designed with the upper end of the kingpin inclined rearward (positive caster) for improved directional stability.
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verb (used without object)
7.
(of a wheel) to swivel freely in a horizontal plane.

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Caster is one of our favorite verbs.
So is peculate. Does it mean:
to flee; abscond:
to steal or take dishonestly (money, esp. public funds, or property entrusted to one's care); embezzle.
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Origin:
1300–50; Middle English; see cast, -er1

Related forms
cast·er·less, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged

caste

   [kast, kahst]
noun
1.
Sociology.
a.
an endogamous and hereditary social group limited to persons of the same rank, occupation, economic position, etc., and having mores distinguishing it from other such groups.
b.
any rigid system of social distinctions.
2.
Hinduism. any of the social divisions into which Hindu society is traditionally divided, each caste having its own privileges and limitations, transferred by inheritance from one generation to the next; jati. Compare class (def. 13).
3.
any class or group of society sharing common cultural features: low caste; high caste.
4.
social position conferred upon one by a caste system: to lose caste.
5.
Entomology. one of the distinct forms among polymorphous social insects, performing a specialized function in the colony, as a queen, worker or soldier.
adjective
6.
of, pertaining to, or characterized by caste: a caste society; a caste system; a caste structure.
Origin:
1545–55; < Portuguese casta race, breed, noun use of casta, feminine of casto < Latin castus pure, chaste

Related forms
caste·ism, noun
caste·less, adjective
an·ti·caste, adjective
in·ter·caste, adjective
sub·caste, noun

Can be confused: cast, caste, class.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source Link To caster
Collins
World English Dictionary
caster (ˈkɑːstə)
 
—n
1.  a person or thing that casts
2.  Also: castor a bottle with a perforated top for sprinkling sugar, etc, or a stand containing such bottles
3.  Also: castor a small wheel mounted on a swivel so that the wheel tends to turn into its plane of rotation

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

caste
1555, "a race of men," from L. casto "chaste," from castus "pure, cut off, separated," pp. of carere "to be cut off from" (and related to castrate), from PIE base *kes- "to cut."Application to Hindu social groups picked up in India 17c. from Port. casta "breed, race, caste," earlier casta raca "unmixed
EXPAND
race," from the same L. word. Caste system is first recorded 1840.

caster
"pepper shaker," 1676, on notion of "throwing;" meaning "wheel and swivel attached to furniture" is from 1748, from cast (q.v.) in the old sense of "turn."
COLLAPSE
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage
Science Dictionary
caste   (kāst)  Pronunciation Key 


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A specialized group carrying out a specific function within a colony of social insects. For example, in an ant colony, members of the caste of workers forage for food outside the colony or tend eggs and larvae, while the members of the caste of soldiers, often larger with stronger jaws, are responsible for defense of the colony.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
American Heritage
Cultural Dictionary
caste [(kast)]

One of the four hereditary social divisions in Hinduism. Members of any one caste are restricted in their choice of occupation and may have only limited association with members of other castes.

Note: Caste has come to mean a group of persons set apart by economic, social, religious, legal, or political criteria, such as occupation, status, religious denomination, legal privilege, skin color, or some other physical characteristic. Members of a caste tend to associate among themselves and rarely marry outside the caste. Castes are more socially separate from each other than are social classes.
Note: During the height of segregation in the United States, African-Americans were sometimes loosely referred to as a caste.
The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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