dicast

[ dahy-kast, dik-ast ]

noun

1. (in ancient Athens) a citizen eligible to sit as a judge.

dicast

/ ˈdɪkæst /

noun

1. (in ancient Athens) a juror in the popular courts chosen by lot from a list of citizens

Derived Forms

• diˈcastic, adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of dicast¹

1700–10; < Greek dikastḗs a juryman, equivalent to *dikad-, base of dikázein to judge, determine (derivative of díkē right, law, order) + -tēs agentive suffix

Word History and Origins

Origin of dicast¹

C19: from Greek dikastēs, from dikazein to judge, from dikē right, judgment, order

Example Sentences

Dicast, Dikast, dī′kast, n. one of the 6000 Athenians annually chosen to act as judges.—n.

From Project Gutenberg

A juror or dicast would receive the same sum for attendance, and the courts or juries often consisted of 500 persons.

From Project Gutenberg

He extended enormously, if he did not originate, the practice of distributing gratuities among the citizens for military service, for acting as dicast and in the Ecclesia and the like, as well as for admission to the theatre—then really a great school for manners and instruction.

From Project Gutenberg

And this is the reason why in our State, and in our State only, we shall find a shoemaker to be a shoemaker and not a pilot also, and a husbandman to be a husbandman and not a dicast also, and a soldier a soldier and not a trader also, and the same throughout?

From Project Gutenberg

Philocleon is a bigoted devotee of the malady of litigiousness so typical of his countrymen and an enthusiastic attendant at the Courts in his capacity of 'dicast' or juryman.

From Project Gutenberg