Definitions and meaning of orb
orb
Pronunciation
- (US) IPA(key): /oɹb/
- (UK) IPA(key): /ɔː(ɹ)b/
- Rhymes: -ɔː(r)b
Etymology 1
From Old French orbe, from Latin orbis (“circle, orb”). Compare orbit.
Noun
orb (plural orbs)
- A spherical body; a globe; especially, one of the celestial spheres; a sun, planet, or star
- 1609, William Shakespeare, A Lover's Complaint
- In the small orb of one particular tear.
- One of the azure transparent spheres conceived by the ancients to be enclosed one within another, and to carry the heavenly bodies in their revolutions
- A circle; especially, a circle, or nearly circular orbit, described by the revolution of a heavenly body; an orbit
- 1612, Francis Bacon, Essayes or Counsels, Civill and Morall, "Of Superstition"
- The schoolmen were like astronomers, which did feign eccentrics, and epicycles, and such engines of orbs.
-
- (rare) A period of time marked off by the revolution of a heavenly body.
- (poetic) The eye, as luminous and spherical
- (poetic) A revolving circular body; a wheel
- (rare) A sphere of action.
- 1815, William Wordsworth, "Essay, Supplementary to the Preface"
- By what fatality the orb of my genius […] acts upon these men like the moon upon a certain description of patients, it would be irksome to inquire
- 1609, William Shakespeare, Pericles, Prince of Tyre Act 1 Scene 2
- But in our orbs we'll live so round and safe.
- A globus cruciger; a ceremonial sphere used to represent royal power
- A translucent sphere appearing in flash photography (Orb (optics))
- (military) A body of soldiers drawn up in a circle, as for defence, especially infantry to repel cavalry.
Synonyms
- (spherical body): ball, globe, sphere
- (circle): circle, orbit
- (a period of time): See Thesaurus:year
- (an eye): See Thesaurus:eye
- (revolving circular body): roller, wheel
- (sphere of action): area, domain, field, province
- (monarch's ceremonial sphere): globe, globus cruciger, mound, orb
- (military formation): globe
Translations
same as mound, a ball or globe
See mound, ball, globe
Verb
orb (third-person singular simple present orbs, present participle orbing, simple past and past participle orbed)
- (poetic, transitive) To form into an orb or circle.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Lowell to this entry?)
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Milton to this entry?)
- (poetic, intransitive) To become round like an orb.
- (poetic, transitive) To encircle; to surround; to enclose.
- 1717', Joseph Addison, Metamorphoses
- The wheels were orbed with gold.
Etymology 2
From Old French orb (“blind”), from Latin orbus (“destitute”).
Noun
orb (plural orbs)
- (architecture) A blank window or panel.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Oxf. Gloss to this entry?)
References
- orb in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
Anagrams
- BOR, Bor, Bor., ROB, Rob, bor, bro, bro., rob
Catalan
Etymology
From Old Occitan (compare Occitan òrb), from Latin orbus (ab oculīs) (literally “deprived of eyes”) (compare Italian orbo, Romanian orb, French aveugle from the other half of the idiom), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃órbʰos (“orphan”).
Pronunciation
- (Balearic, Valencian) IPA(key): /ˈɔɾp/
- (Central) IPA(key): /ˈɔrp/
Adjective
orb (feminine orba, masculine plural orbs, feminine plural orbes)
- blind
Synonyms
Noun
orb m (uncountable)
- a fungal disease of wheat and other cereals
Estonian
Etymology
Borrowed from Finnish orpo, from Proto-Finno-Ugric *orpa, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *arbha-s. Cognate with Hungarian árva.
Noun
orb (genitive orvu, partitive orbu)
- orphan
Declension
Romanian
Etymology
From Latin orbus, from Proto-Indo-European *h₃órbʰos (“orphan”). Compare Italian orbo.
Pronunciation
Adjective
orb m or n (feminine singular oarbă, masculine plural orbi, feminine and neuter plural oarbe)
- blind
Declension
Noun
orb m (plural orbi, feminine equivalent oarbă)
- blind man
Declension
Derived terms
Related terms
See also
Source: wiktionary.org- to form into a sphere.
(source: Collins Scrabble Dictionary)