orb
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ɔɹb/
ipa: /ɔːb/
rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)b
Forms: form: orbs
Etymology: From Middle English orbe, from Old French orbe, from Latin orbis (“circle, orb”). Compare orbit.
Senses: examples: text: In the small orb of one particular tear.
ref: c. 1607–1608 (date written), William Shakespeare, [George Wilkins?], The Late, and Much Admired Play, Called Pericles, Prince of Tyre. […], London: […] [William White and Thomas Creede] for Henry Gosson, […], published 1609, →OCLC, [Act LOVER'S COMPLAINT]:
text: Whether the prime orb, Incredible how swift, had thither rolled.
ref: 1667, John Milton, “Book IV”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
glosses: A spherical body; a sphere, especially one of the celestial spheres; a sun, planet, or star
glosses: Celestial sphere; 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
topics: architecture
glosses: A structural motif or finial in the shape of a sphere
examples: text: The schoolmen were like astronomers, which did feign eccentrics, and epicycles, and such engines of orbs.
ref: 1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Superstition”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC:
text: You seem to me as Dian in her orb.
ref: 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, [Act IV, scene i]:
text: In orbs / Of circuit inexpressible they stood, / Orb within orb.
ref: 1667, John Milton, “Book V”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
glosses: An orbit of an heavenly body
examples: text: 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.
ref: 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book V:
glosses: The time period of an orbit
examples: text: A drop serene hath quenched their orbs.
ref: 1667, John Milton, “Book III”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
text: 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.
ref: 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “The Assignation”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 260:
glosses: The eye, seen as a luminous and spherical entity
examples: text: The orbs Of his fierce chariot rolled.
ref: 1667, John Milton, “Book VI”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
glosses: Any revolving circular body, such as a wheel
examples: text: 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
ref: 1815, William Wordsworth, Essay, Supplementary to the Preface:
text: But in our orbs we'll live so round and safe.
ref: c. 1607–1608 (date written), William Shakespeare, [George Wilkins?], The Late, and Much Admired Play, Called Pericles, Prince of Tyre. […], London: […] [William White and Thomas Creede] for Henry Gosson, […], published 1609, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:
glosses: A sphere of action.
glosses: A globus cruciger; a ceremonial sphere used to represent royal or imperial power
glosses: A translucent sphere appearing in flash photography (Orb (optics))
topics: government
military
politics
war
glosses: A body of soldiers drawn up in a circle, as for defence, especially infantry to repel cavalry.
examples: text: For example, an approaching transitioning aspect (i.e., for 120 degrees) is effective when it remains within 2 degrees of orb on either side of the perfect angle.
ref: 2005, William Noah, Astrology of America (page 234)
text: Astrologers' opinions vary on how many degrees of orb to allow for each aspect.
ref: 2012, Kris Brandt Riske, Llewellyn's 2013 Sun Sign Book: Horoscopes for Everyone (page 18)
text: 2015, Padam Singh, Krishna Attri, Astrology For Stock Market
For example Mars has its orb 7 degrees to the Sun.
topics: astrology
human-sciences
mysticism
philosophy
sciences
glosses: Amount of deviation from the closest perfect aspect.
Synonyms: sense: spherical body
word: ball
sense: spherical body
word: globe
sense: spherical body
word: sphere
sense: circle
word: circle
sense: circle
word: orbit
sense: a period of time
word: year
sense: an eye
word: eye
sense: revolving circular body
word: roller
sense: revolving circular body
word: wheel
sense: sphere of action
word: area
sense: sphere of action
word: domain
sense: sphere of action
word: field
sense: sphere of action
word: province
sense: monarch's ceremonial sphere
word: globe
sense: monarch's ceremonial sphere
word: globus cruciger
sense: monarch's ceremonial sphere
word: mound
sense: military formation
word: globe
Derived terms: disorb
golden silk orb-weaver
inorb
orbic
orbical
orbless
orblet
orblike
orb spider
orb-web spider
orby
red-legged golden orb-weaver spider
sea orb
semi-orb
semiorb