† 1. One who practises the casting of figures (see CAST v. 39 and FIGURE sb. 14); ‘a pretender to astrology’ (J.). Obs.
1584. R. Scot, Discov. Witchcr., XI. xxi. 169. The vaine and trifling tricks of figure-casters.
1642. Milton, An Apology against Smectymnuus (1851), 306. Whilest I, by this figure-caster must be imagin’d in such distresse as to sue to Maronilla, and yet left to impoverisht of what to say, as to turne my Liturgy into my Ladies Psalter.
2. One who casts up figures (see FIGURE sb. 19).
1831. Scott, Ct. Robt. vii. The stationary garrisons, in addition to the movable troops for which this figure-caster [the Logothete] makes no allowance.
1880. Swinburne, A Study of Shakespeare, i. (ed. 2), 10. To err on this side requires more thought, more learning, and more ingenuity than we need think to find in a whole tribe of finger-counters and figure-casters.
