[Vocabulary] What does "cast" in "cast your fate to the winds" mean?

[Mike MC]

I know the meaning of the whole idiom, but I wonder what the word "cast" mean here and which of the dictionary senses it matches.

 

[emsr2d2]

What dictionary definitions have you found for the verb "cast" and which one do you think fits? We like learners to do some work themselves rather than spoonfeeding the answers!

 

[Mike MC]

What dictionary definitions have you found for the verb "cast" and which one do you think fits? We like learners to do some work themselves rather than spoonfeeding the answers!

I read them all in the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, but none seems to fit.

 

[emsr2d2]

What do you think the whole idiom means? If you had to explain it using different words, what would you say?

 

[Mike MC]

What do you think the whole idiom means? If you had to explain it using different words, what would you say?

Let what happens happen.

 

[bubbha]

I read them all in the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, but none seems to fit.

One of them is indeed the definition you are looking for.

 

[Mike MC]

One of them is indeed the definition you are looking for.

A simple vocabulary question is turning into an interesting puzzle!

 

[emsr2d2]

Imagine you had a balloon and I wanted you to do something with it to demonstrate "Let what happens happen". What would you do with it that doesn't have a predictable outcome?

 

[Mike MC]

Imagine you had a balloon and I wanted you to do something with it to demonstrate "Let what happens happen". What would you do with it that doesn't have a predictable outcome?

"Throw"?

 

[YAMATO2201]

Let what happens happen.

I'm guessing "cast your fate to the winds" means "leave your fate to chance".

 

[emsr2d2]

"Throw"?

Absolutely right!