See Also: casual(dictionary)
casual(dictionary)
CASUAL(law)
Casual Labor(money)
Casual Water - Golf(gambling)
CASUAL EJECTOR, practice, ejectment(law)

casual (iou)



casual adjective & noun. LME.
[Old & mod. French casuel and Latin casualis (in its late and medieval uses), from casus CASE noun1: see -AL1.]
A. adjective.
Due to, characterized by, or subject to chance; accidental, fortuitous. LME.
W. Raleigh That which seemeth most casual and subject to fortune, is yet disposed by the ordinance of God. Milton Where casual fire had wasted woods.
b. Non-essential. LME-M17.
Occurring unpredictably; irregular; occasional. LME.
Clarendon Both the known and casual Revenue. J. Cary The few shillings a week earned..at casual and temporary jobs.
Frail, precarious, unreliable. E16-E18.
J. Worlidge In case..the weather prove casual.
Occurring or brought about without design or premeditation; having no specific plan, method, motivation, or interest; performed or entered into casually; spec. designating or pertaining to sex between individuals who are not regular or established sexual partners. M17.
D. G. Mitchell I made some casual remark about the weather. J. Conrad A casual stroll or a casual spree on shore. Conan Doyle A problem without a solution may interest the student, but can hardly fail to annoy the casual reader.
Of a person, action, etc.: unmethodical, careless; unconcerned, uninterested; informal, unceremonious. L19.
G. Greene It needed only a casual inspection to realise how badly the office had been kept. A. Lurie We were both very strained, though we pretended to be casual. J. Irving He puts up a casual hand to catch it.
b. Of an item of clothing: suitable for informal wear. M20.
Special collocations: casual acquaintance: whom one met incidentally or whom one meets only occasionally. casual labourer: without permanent employment, working when the chance comes. casual pauper, casual poor Hist.: receiving occasional relief, admitted temporarily to a workhouse, casual ward, etc. casual ward Hist. a place for the temporary accommodation of vagrants. casual water Golf a temporary accumulation of water not constituting one of the recognized hazards of the course.
b. noun.
A chance. Usu. in pl. LME-M17.
A casual item of income. rare. E19.
A casual labourer. M19.
A casual pauper. Now arch. or Hist. M19.
An introduced plant, animal, etc., which fails to establish itself. L19.
An item of casual clothing; spec. a low-heeled slip-on shoe. Usu. in pl. M20.
A hooligan who dresses conventionally in casual clothing. slang. L20.
casualism noun the doctrine that all things exist or happen by chance L19.
casually adverb LME.
casualness noun L19.