Also 6 castour, 7 -er. [a. F. castor (16th c.) and L. castor, a. Gr. κάστωρ beaver, prob. a foreign word. Cf. Skr. kastūrī musk.]
1. The beaver. (Now rarely used).
[1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVIII. xxix. (1495), 789. The Castor hyght Fyber also.]
1547. Boorde, Introd. Knowl., vi. 141. Ther [in Norway] be many castours and whyte beares.
1612. Drayton, Poly-olb., vi. 87. Cleere Tivy … Which of thy Castors once, but now canst onelie boast The Salmons.
1666. Dryden, Ann. Mirab., xxv. Like hunted castors conscious of their store.
1750. Beawes, Lex Mercat. (1752), 829. Skins, especially Castor.
1875. Ure, Dict. Arts, s.v., The sacs are cut off from the castors when they are killed.
2. A reddish-brown unctuous substance, having a strong smell and nauseous bitter taste, obtained from two sacs in the inguinal region of the beaver; used in medicine and in perfumery; castoreum.
1601. Holland, Pliny, II. 430. Two drams … is thought to be a sufficient dose of Castor.
1646. Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep., 150.
1693. Phil. Trans., XVII. 935. Castor he proves to be the Scent-bags adjoyning to the Intestinum Rectum, and not the Testicles of the Beaver, as some assert.
1750. Mrs. Delany, Autobiog. & Corr. (1861), II. 550. Your letters … have been my castor, pearl cordial, and sal volatile.
1768–74. Tucker, Lt. Nat. (1852), II. 91. Bezoar, civet, and castor, are the diseases of animals.
1834. J. Forbes, Laennec’s Dis. Chest, 385. Musk and castor … give more speedy relief.
1875. Ure, Dict. Arts, s.v., Chemists … have examined castor, and found it to be composed of a resin, a fatty substance, a volatile oil, an extractive matter, benzoic acid, and some salts.
3. A hat, orig. either of beaver’s fur, or intended to be taken as such; in the end of the 17th and beginning of 18th c. distinguished from ‘beaver,’ and said to be of rabbit’s fur; at that time also usually spelt caster. Now mostly colloq. or slang. Cf. BEAVER 3 (So in Fr.)
1640. in Entick, London, II. 175. Bever hats, Demi-casters.
1656. Blount, Glossogr., To Rdr. A iij a. In London many of the Tradesmen have new Dialects…. The Haberdasher is ready to furnish you with a Vigone, Codevec, or Castor.
1675. Lond. Gaz., No. 1031/4. A parcel of Hats, being Mens, Womens, and Boyes, Castors. Ibid. (1680), No. 1513/4. A thick short boy … with a … gray caster hat. Ibid. (1688), No. 2363/4. 2 black Hats, one a Beaver, the other a new Caster.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, III. 129/1. Of Hats … the Caster … is made of Coney Wooll mixt with Polony Wooll.
1709. Steele, Tatler, No. 46, ¶ 1. His Imperial Castor, which he always wears cock’d in Front.
1750. Beawes, Lex Mercat. (1752), 578. The Manufactures of this Shire [Derby] are … some Felt, Castor, and Beaver Hats.
1768. Sterne, Sent. Journ. (1774), I. 133.
1827. Scott, Chron. Can., Ser. I. Introd. iii. A white castor on my head.
1838. Dickens, O. Twist, II. xxv. 86.
1849. C. Brontë, Shirley, xiii. 193. His coat and castor having been detained at the public-house in pledge.
4. ‘A heavy quality of broadcloth used for overcoats’ (Webster).
5. Oil of castor. (Littré has huile de castor in sense of castoreum from Paré c. 1550.)
1727–51. Chambers, Cycl., s.v. Castoreum, They draw an oil from it called Oil of Castor.
