orient
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈɔː.ɹɪ.ənt/
ipa: /ˈɒɹ.ɪ.ənt/
ipa: /ˈɔɹ.i.ənt/
Etymology: The noun is derived from Middle English orient, oriente, oryent, oryente, oryentte (“the east direction; eastern horizon or sky; eastern regions of the world, Asia, Orient; eastern edge of the world”), borrowed from Anglo-Norman orient, oriente, and Old French orient (“east direction; Asia, Orient”) (modern French orient), or directly from its etymon Latin oriēns (“the east; daybreak, dawn; sunrise; (participle) rising; appearing; originating”), present active participle of orior (“to get up, rise; to appear, become visible; to be born, come to exist, originate”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃er- (“to move, stir; to rise, spring”).
The adjective is derived from Middle English orient (“eastern; from Asia or the Orient; brilliant, shining (characteristic of jewels from the Orient)”), from Middle English orient (noun); see above.
Senses: examples: text: Moon, that now meetſt the orient sun, now fli'ſt / With the fixt Starrs, fixt in thir Orb that flies, [...]
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, lines 175–176:
glosses: Rising, like the morning sun.
examples: text: Then, I do so like the one or two principal walks, neatly edged with box, cut with most precise regularity, keeping guard over favourite plants:—columbines, bending on their slender stems; rose-bushes, covered with buds enough to furnish roses for months; pinks, with their dark eyes; and the orient glow of the marigold.
ref: 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXVI, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 278:
synonyms: Orient red
glosses: Of the colour of the sky at daybreak; bright in colour, from red to yellow.
examples: text: To ſhewe that though this figure of the worlde in playne or flat ſeemeth to haue an ende, yet one imagining that this ſayde carde were ſet vpon a round thing, where the endes ſhoulde touche by the lines, it would plainely appeare howe the Orient part ioyneth with the Occident, as there without the lines it is deſcribed & figured.
ref: 1527, Robert Thorne, “The Booke Made by the Right Worshipfull Master Robert Thorne in the Yeere 1527. in Siuill to Doctourley, Lorde Ambassadour for King Henrie the Eight to Charles the Emperour [Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor], being an Information of the Parts of the World, Discouered by Him and the King of Portingale: And also of the Way to the Moluccaes by the North”, in R[ichard] H[akluyt], compiler, Divers Voyages Touching the Discouerie of America, and the Ilands adiacent vnto the Same, […], London: […] [Thomas Dawson] for Thomas Woodcocke, […], published 1582, →OCLC, signature C, verso:
antonyms: occidental
qualifier: obsolete except poetic
glosses: Of, facing, or located in the east; eastern, oriental.
examples: text: Thinges to be carried with you, whereof more or leſſe is to be caried for a ſhewe of our commodities to bee made. Kerſies of all orient coulours, ſpecially of ſtamel [a fine worsted], brodecloth of orient colours alſo.
ref: 1580, R[ichard] H[akluyt], compiler, “Notes in Writing besides More Priuie by Mouth that were Giuen by a Gentleman, Anno. 1580. to M. Arthure Pette and to M. Charles Iackman, Sent by the Marchants of the Muscouie Companie for the Discouerie of the Northeast Strayte,”, in Divers Voyages Touching the Discouerie of America, and the Ilands adiacent vnto the Same, […], London: […] [Thomas Dawson] for Thomas Woodcocke, […], published 1582, →OCLC:
text: [...] He gaue me a rope of the ſame Pearle, but they were blacke, and naught, yet many of them were very great, and a fewe amongſt a number very orient and round, [...]
ref: 1589, Ralph Lane, “An Account of the Peculiarities of the Imployments of the English Men Left in Virginia by Sir Richard Greeneuill vnder the Charge of Master Ralfe Lane General of the same, from the 17. of August, 1585, vntill the 18. of Iune 1586, at which Time They Departed the Countrie: [...]”, in Richard Hakluyt, The Principall Navigations, Voiages, and Discoveries of the English Nation, […], London: […] George Bishop and Ralph Newberie, deputies to Christopher Barker, […], →OCLC, 1st part (Declaring the Particularities of the Countrey of Virginia), page 739:
text: The liquid drops of Teares that you have ſhed,
 Shall come againe, transform'd to Orient Pearle, [...]
ref: c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iv], page 198, column 1:
text: And in thick ſhelter of black ſhades imbowr'd / Excells his Mother at her mightie Art / Offring to every wearie Travailer / His [Comus's] orient liquor in a Chryſtall glaſſe / To quench the drouth of Phœbus, [...]
ref: 1634 October 9 (first performance), [John Milton], edited by H[enry] Lawes, A Maske Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634: […] [Comus], London: […] [Augustine Matthews] for Hvmphrey Robinson, […], published 1637, →OCLC; reprinted as Comus: […] (Dodd, Mead & Company’s Facsimile Reprints of Rare Books; Literature Series; no. I), New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1903, →OCLC, page 3:
english: Comus
translation: Comus
text: It is neceſſary to ſome men to have garments made of the Calabrian fleece, ſtain'd with the bloud of the murex, and to get money to buy pearls round and orient; [...] well may a ſober man wonder that men ſhould be ſo much in love with Earth and Corruption, the Parent of rottenneſs and a diſeaſe, [...]
ref: a. 1667, Jeremy Taylor, “Sermon XVI. [The House of Feasting: Or The Epicures Measures.] Part III.”, in ΕΝΙΑΥΤΟΣ [ENIAUTOS]. A Course of Sermons for All the Sundays of the Year. […], 4th enlarged edition, London: Printed by R[oger] Norton for R[ichard] Royston, […], published 1673, →OCLC, page 154:
text: Her orienteſt colours there,
 And eſſences moſt pure,
 With ſweeteſt perfumes hoarded were,
 All, as ſhe thought, ſecure.
ref: a. 1679, Andrew Marvell, “The Match”, in The Works of Andrew Marvell, Esq.: Poetical, Controversial, and Political, […] In Three Volumes, volume III, London: Printed for the editor, by Henry Baldwin, and sold by [Robert] Dodsley [et al.], published 1776, →OCLC, stanza II, page 269:
text: […] books are your's, / Within whose silent chambers treasure lies / Preserved from age to age; more precious far / Than that accumulated store of gold / And orient gems, which for a day of need / The Sultan hides within ancestral tombs.
ref: c. 1806–1809 (date written), William Wordsworth, “Book the Fourth. Despondency Corrected.”, in The Excursion, being a Portion of The Recluse, a Poem, London: […] Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […], published 1814, →OCLC, page 166:
synonyms: word: aglow
word: alight
word: beamful
word: beamsome
word: beamy
word: brilliant
word: effulgent
word: glowing
word: illuminating
word: lambent
word: lighted
word: lit
word: lucent
word: luciferous
word: lucific
word: luminant
word: luminiferous
word: luminous
word: lustrous
word: orient
word: profulgent
word: radiant
word: refulgent
word: resplendent
word: sheeny
word: shining
word: shiny
qualifier: obsolete except poetic
glosses: Of a pearl or other gem: of great brilliance and value; (by extension) bright, lustrous.
Derived terms: oriency
oriently
orientness