cast up one's accounts

Definitions

1. 1

   To come to an accounting

   To come to an accounting; to examine and strike the balance of debt and credit; reckon.

   • He was very careful to cast up his accounts every quarter ; which he did, that he might spend neither more nor less than what he could spend every year.
   • If a man should cast up his accounts once a week, or once a month, he may not be able to discern that he doth grow rich, and yet he may grow rich.
   • EVERY WISE MERCHANT will occasionally hold a stock-taking, when he will cast up his accounts, examine what he has on hand, and ascertain decisively whether his trade is prosperous or declining.
2. 2

   To vomit.

   • To cast up one's accounts upon excessive drinking ; either, says Cotgrave, because in spewing one makes a noise like a fox that barks, or (from the subject to the effect) because the flaying of so unsavoury a beast will make any one spew.
   • A foul taste. Vomit. 'Struth! Embarrassing memory flooded back. He'd cast up his accounts in front of a woman.
   • As he handed the tray over, he heard the knocker echo through the house. Thinking it might be Jimmy, he turned back to his father to warn him only to see him reach for the chamber pot and cast up his accounts.

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