orb

See also: ORB and òrb

English

Gateway with orbs (3)

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɔɹb/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɔːb/
• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)b

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

Etymology 1

From Middle English orbe, from Old French orbe, from Latin orbis (“circle, orb”). Compare orbit.

Noun

orb (plural orbs)

1. A spherical body; a sphere, especially one of the celestial spheres; a sun, planet, or star
   • c. 1607–1608, William Shakeſpeare, The Late, And much admired Play, Called Pericles, Prince of Tyre. […], London: Imprinted at London for Henry Goſſon,  […], published 1609, OCLC 78596089, [Act LOVER'S COMPLAINT, (please specify the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals)]:

     In the small orb of one particular tear.

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book IV”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], OCLC 228722708; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554:

     Whether the prime orb, Incredible how swift, had thither rolled.

2. 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
3. (architecture) A structural motif or finial in the shape of a sphere
4. An orbit of an heavenly body
   • 1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Superstition”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, OCLC 863521290:

     The schoolmen were like astronomers, which did feign eccentrics, and epicycles, and such engines of orbs.

   • 1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act IV, scene i]:

     You seem to me as Dian in her orb.

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book V”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], OCLC 228722708; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554:

     In orbs Of circuit inexpressible they stood, Orb within orb.

5. (rare) The time period of an orbit
   • 1667, Milton, John, Paradise Lost, Book V:

     Know none before us, self-begot, self-rais'd / By our own quick'ning power, when fatal course / Had circl'd his full Orbe, the birth mature / Of this our native Heav'n, Ethereal Sons.

6. (poetic) The eye, seen as a luminous and spherical entity
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book III”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], OCLC 228722708; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554:

     A drop serene hath quenched their orbs.

   • 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], OCLC 21345056, page 260:

     Painfully, he forced his hot eyelids to unclose, and his distended orbs sought for some object whereon to fix; they met the patch of grass, yet red with the blood of Walter Maynard.

7. (poetic) Any revolving circular body, such as a wheel
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book VI”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], OCLC 228722708; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554:

     The orbs Of his fierce chariot rolled.

8. (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

   • c. 1607–1608, William Shakeſpeare, The Late, And much admired Play, Called Pericles, Prince of Tyre. […], London: Imprinted at London for Henry Goſſon,  […], published 1609, OCLC 78596089, [Act 1, scene 2]:

     But in our orbs we'll live so round and safe.

9. A globus cruciger; a ceremonial sphere used to represent royal or imperial power
10. A translucent sphere appearing in flash photography (Orb (optics))
11. (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

spherical body

• Bulgarian: сфера (bg) f (sfera), кълбо (bg) n (kǎlbo)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 球體 (zh), 天体 (zh) (tiāntǐ)

• Dutch: bol (nl) m
• Finnish: pallo (fi)
• French: orbe (fr) m
• German: Kugel (de) f, Gestirn (de) n
• Greek: σφαίρα (el) f (sfaíra)
• Hebrew: כַּדּוּר‎ (he) m (kadúr)
• Italian: orbe (it)
• Japanese: 球体 (ja) (きゅうたい, kyūtai)
• Korean: 천체 (ko) (cheonche)
• Portuguese: orbe (pt) m
• Russian: сфе́ра (ru) f (sféra), шар (ru) m (šar)
• Spanish: orbe (es) m
• Swedish: klot (sv) n
• Tocharian B: yerpe
• Volapük: levalaglöp (vo)

mythology: transparent sphere carrying the heavenly bodies

• Finnish: sfääri (fi)
• French: sphère (fr) f

circle — see circle

orbit — see orbit

period of time marked off by the revolution of a heavenly body — see year

poetic: the eye, as luminous and spherical

• Dutch: oogappel (nl)
• French: œil (fr) m
• Italian: occhio (it), globo (it)

poetic: a revolving circular body; a wheel

• Finnish: pyörä (fi)
• French: sphère (fr) f
• Italian: sfera (it)

sphere of action

• Finnish: ympyrät pl

monarch's ceremonial sphere — see globus cruciger

Verb

orb (third-person singular simple present orbs, present participle orbing, simple past and past participle orbed)

1. (poetic, transitive) To form into an orb or circle.
   • 1842, James Russell Lowell, sonnet

     a full-orbed sun

   • 1667, John Milton, “(please specify the book number)”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], OCLC 228722708; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554:

     Let each
     His adamantine coat gird well , and each
     Fit well his helm , gripe fast his orbed shield

2. (poetic, intransitive) To become round like an orb.
3. (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)

1. (architecture) A blank window or panel.
   • 1845, Robert Willis, The Architectural History of Canterbury Cathedral

     small blank windows or panels, for in later times such panels were called orbs, blind windows

References

• orb in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913

Anagrams

• BOR, Bor, Bor., ROB, Rob, bor, bro, bro., rob

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Aromanian

Alternative forms

• orbu

Etymology

From Latin orbus. Compare Romanian orb.

Adjective

orb m (feminine singular orbe, masculine plural orghi, feminine plural orbi)

1. blind
2. (figuratively) ignorant
3. (figuratively) uncultivated, unrefined, uncivilized

Related terms

• urbari
• urbiatse

See also

• chior

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Catalan

Etymology

Inherited from Old Catalan orb (also spelled horp), from an ellipsis of Latin orbus (ab oculīs) (literally “deprived of eyes”), the first element of which derives from Proto-Indo-European *h₃órbʰos (“orphan”). Compare Occitan òrb, Italian orbo, Romanian orb, as well as French aveugle, which reflects the ab oculīs part of the idiom.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Valencian) IPA^(key): /ˈɔɾp/
• (Central) IPA^(key): /ˈɔrp/

Adjective

orb (feminine orba, masculine plural orbs, feminine plural orbes)

1. blind

Synonyms

• cec

Noun

orb m (uncountable)

1. a fungal disease of wheat and other cereals

References

• “orb” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “orb”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2023
• “orb” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “orb” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

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Estonian

Etymology

Borrowed from Finnish orpo, from Proto-Finno-Ugric *orpa, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *Hárbʰas. Cognate with Hungarian árva.

Noun

orb (genitive orvu, partitive orbu)

1. orphan

Declension

Declension of orb (type riik)

	singular	plural
nominative	orb	orvud
genitive	orvu	orbude
partitive	orbu	orbe / orbusid
illative	orbu / orvusse	orbudesse / orvesse
inessive	orvus	orbudes / orves
elative	orvust	orbudest / orvest
allative	orvule	orbudele / orvele
adessive	orvul	orbudel / orvel
ablative	orvult	orbudelt / orvelt
translative	orvuks	orbudeks / orveks
terminative	orvuni	orbudeni
essive	orvuna	orbudena
abessive	orvuta	orbudeta
comitative	orvuga	orbudega

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Romanian

Etymology

From Latin orbus, from Proto-Indo-European *h₃órbʰos (“orphan”). Compare Italian orbo.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /orb/

• Audio

  (file)

Adjective

orb m or n (feminine singular oarbă, masculine plural orbi, feminine and neuter plural oarbe)

1. blind

Declension

Declension of orb

		singular			plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine	masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative/ accusative	indefinite	orb		oarbă	orbi	oarbe
	definite	orbul		oarba	orbii	oarbele
genitive/ dative	indefinite	orb		oarbe	orbi	oarbe
	definite	orbului		oarbei	orbilor	oarbelor

Noun

orb m (plural orbi, feminine equivalent oarbă)

1. blind man

Declension

Declension of orb

	singular		plural
	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) orb	orbul	(niște) orbi	orbii
genitive/dative	(unui) orb	orbului	(unor) orbi	orbilor
vocative	orbule		orbilor

Derived terms

• orbeț
• orbi

Related terms

• orbecăi

See also

• chior
• mut
• surd
• vedea