CASTOR

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does Castor mean? 

• CASTOR (noun)
  The noun CASTOR has 5 senses:

1. a multiple star with 6 components; second brightest in Gemini; close to Pollux

2. a shaker with a perforated top for sprinkling powdered sugar

3. a pivoting roller attached to the bottom of furniture or trucks or portable machines to make them movable

4. a hat made with the fur of a beaver (or similar material)

5. type genus of the Castoridae: beavers

  Familiarity information: CASTOR used as a noun is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CASTOR (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A multiple star with 6 components; second brightest in Gemini; close to Pollux

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Synonyms:

Alpha Geminorum; Castor

Instance hypernyms:

multiple star (a system of three or more stars associated by gravity)

Holonyms ("Castor" is a member of...):

Gemini (a zodiacal constellation in the northern hemisphere between Taurus and Cancer on the ecliptic)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A shaker with a perforated top for sprinkling powdered sugar

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

caster; castor

Hypernyms ("castor" is a kind of...):

shaker (a container in which something can be shaken)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A pivoting roller attached to the bottom of furniture or trucks or portable machines to make them movable

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

caster; castor

Hypernyms ("castor" is a kind of...):

roller (a small wheel without spokes (as on a roller skate))

Sense 4

Meaning:

A hat made with the fur of a beaver (or similar material)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

beaver; castor

Hypernyms ("castor" is a kind of...):

fur hat (a hat made of fur)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Type genus of the Castoridae: beavers

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Synonyms:

Castor; genus Castor

Hypernyms ("Castor" is a kind of...):

mammal genus (a genus of mammals)

Meronyms (members of "Castor"):

beaver (large semiaquatic rodent with webbed hind feet and a broad flat tail; construct complex dams and underwater lodges)

Holonyms ("Castor" is a member of...):

Castoridae; family Castoridae (beavers)

 Context examples 

A wax-like hydrogenated derivative of castor oil.

(Hydrogenated Castor Oil, NCI Thesaurus)

Castor oil has many industrial applications and is used medicinally as a laxative and as an excipient.

(Castor Oil, NCI Thesaurus)

This agent can be extracted from castor beans.

(Di-dgA-RFB4 Immunotoxin, NCI Thesaurus)

An immunotoxin of monoclonal antibody (MoAb) RFB4 covalently linked to a single deglycosylated ricin toxin A-chain (dgA), originated from castor beans.

(IgG-RFB4-SMPT-dgA Immunotoxin, NCI Thesaurus)

You’d ’ardly think, to look at me, that even after Mendoza fought me I was able to jump the four-foot ropes at the ring-side just as light as a little kiddy; but if I was to chuck my castor into the ring now I’d never get it till the wind blew it out again, for blow my dicky if I could climb after.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

For similar reasons I made no allusion to the skirmishing plates upon the floor; or to the disreputable appearance of the castors, which were all at sixes and sevens, and looked drunk; or to the further blockade of Traddles by wandering vegetable dishes and jugs.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Hydrogenated castor oil has many industrial applications.

(Hydrogenated Castor Oil, NCI Thesaurus)

A vegetable oil pressed from the seeds of the castor bean, Ricinus communis.

(Castor Oil, NCI Thesaurus)

I felt it was taking a liberty to sit down, with my cap in my hand, on the corner of the chair nearest the door; and when the waiter laid a cloth on purpose for me, and put a set of castors on it, I think I must have turned red all over with modesty.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)