orient
Part of speech: noun
adj
verb
Morphological type: simple
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.
Inflected forms:
form: orients
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: orients
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: orienting
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: oriented
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: oriented
pos: verb
tags: past
Senses:
gloss: The part of the horizon where the sun first appears in the morning; the east.
pos: noun
examples: Loe in the Orient when the gracious light,
 Lifts vp his burning head, each vnder eye
 Doth homage to his new appearing ſight, [...]
Morn in the white wake of the morning star / Came furrowing all the orient into gold.
gloss: A pearl originating from the Indian region, reputed to be of great brilliance; (by extension) any pearl of particular beauty and value.
pos: noun
tags: obsolete
examples: The chambers of the East are opened in every land, and the sun comes forth to sow the earth with orient pearl.
It is indeed an 'extensive Volume,' of boundless, almost formless contents, a very Sea of Thought; neither calm nor clear, if you will; yet wherein the toughest pearl-diver may dive to his utmost depth, and return not only with sea-wreck but with true orients.
Henry II. wore jewelled gloves reaching to the elbow, and had a hawk-glove sewn with twelve rubies and fifty-two great orients.
gloss: The brilliance or colour of a high-quality pearl.
pos: noun
tags: broadly
gloss: Rising, like the morning sun.
pos: adj
tags: also
dated
figuratively
not-comparable
poetic
examples: Moon, that now meetſt the orient sun, now fli'ſt / With the fixt Starrs, fixt in thir Orb that flies, [...]
gloss: Of the colour of the sky at daybreak; bright in colour, from red to yellow.
pos: adj
tags: dated
not-comparable
poetic
examples: 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.
gloss: Of, facing, or located in the east; eastern, oriental.
pos: adj
tags: not-comparable
examples: 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.
gloss: Of a pearl or other gem: of great brilliance and value; (by extension) bright, lustrous.
pos: adj
tags: not-comparable
examples: 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.
[...] 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, [...]
The liquid drops of Teares that you have ſhed,
 Shall come againe, transform'd to Orient Pearle, [...]
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, [...]
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, [...]
Her orienteſt colours there,
 And eſſences moſt pure,
 With ſweeteſt perfumes hoarded were,
 All, as ſhe thought, ſecure.
[…] 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.
gloss: To build or place (something) so as to face eastward.
pos: verb
tags: US
often
transitive
examples: The first kind of interment was that of leaden coffins, rectangular in shape, covered with a lid, occupying deeper graves than any of the other interments, more or less accurately oriented, sometimes containing coins, as of the Emperor Gratian (ob. 383), and sometimes not. [...] The second type of interment, also of Romans or Romanised Britons, resembled the first in being more or less perfectly oriented, the orientation varying, probably according as it had taken place in summer or in winter, from E.N.E. to E.S.E. over about 45°; [...]
gloss: To align or place (a person or object) so that his, her, or its east side, north side, etc., is positioned toward the corresponding points of the compass; (specifically, surveying) to rotate (a map attached to a plane table) until the line of direction between any two of its points is parallel to the corresponding direction in nature.
pos: verb
tags: US
broadly
often
transitive
examples: Without a compass the table is oriented, when set at one end of a line previously determined, by sighting back on this line, [...]. To orient the table, when at a station unconnected with others, is more difficult.
He orients his photo-scale protractor over the intersection of the base line and compass line extended, by means of the bearing of base line AB (S. 32° W.) and reads bearing of compass line RP to 7 (N. 80° W.).
gloss: To direct towards or point at a particular direction.
pos: verb
tags: US
often
transitive
examples: The workers oriented all the signs to face the road.
The present methods of manufacture of fiber boards tend to orient the fibers so that they are most effective for insulation.
When a substance is placed in an electric field, the molecules tend to orient themselves in a definite pattern with respect to the direction of the field. The dielectric constant of the material can, for simplicity, be defined as a measure of the degree to which the individual particles are oriented or the material polarized.
The goal is to draw on reservoirs of strength that defy rational thought, so you can wrench your poor, obsessed spirit away from work and orient it toward stuff that matters.
gloss: To determine which direction one is facing.
pos: verb
tags: US
often
reflexive
transitive
examples: Let me just orient myself and we can be on our way.
All around your spirit, the universe lies open and free, and you can go where you will. Orient yourself! Orient yourself! [...] [S]tudy and obey the sublime laws on which the frame of nature was constructed; study and obey the sublimer laws on which the soul of man was formed; and the fulness of the power and the wisdom and the blessedness, with which God has filled and lighted up this resplendent universe, shall all be yours!
The two stars, one at the Pole and the other at the Equator, were essential to both orienting and dating the structure. Hence the conclusion that the Great Pyramid could not have accomplished its design as a monumental witnessing pillar at any other time, and that the only time when the aid indispensable was possible was B.C. 2170.
gloss: To familiarize (oneself or someone) with a circumstance or situation.
pos: verb
tags: US
figuratively
often
reflexive
transitive
examples: Give him time to orient himself within the new hierarchy.
Thus the thought-world is a symbol, or system of symbols, which serves the organic beings of the real world for orienting themselves in the world of actual being, and is the means whereby they translate the proceedings of this world into the language of the soul.
Computer Systems Analyst II [...] Determines and resolves data processing problems and coordinates the work with program, users, etc.; orients user personnel on new or changed procedures.
The first system of attention underlies orienting to and exploration of objects in the environment and is composed of at least two networks involved in orienting to locations in space and object recognition, respectively [...].
gloss: To set the focus of (something) so as to appeal or relate to a certain group.
pos: verb
tags: US
figuratively
often
transitive
examples: We will orient our campaign to the youth who are often disinterested.
Whatever the occasion of the public religious observance, whether it was the holding of a temple fair, praying for rain, or celebrating a popular festival, religion came to serve as a symbol of common devotion in bringing people out of their divergent routines and orienting them toward community activities.
gloss: To change direction to face a certain way.
pos: verb
tags: US
intransitive
often
examples: Observation stations were established at vantage points along the coast to monitor gray whale responses to the sounds generated by the air gun array. [...] At 3 miles some whales appeared to orient toward the sound.
Related words: orientalism
orientalist
oriental
Oriental
orienteer
orienteering
origin
Derived words: oriency
oriently
orientness
biorient
disorient
disorientate
misorient
nonorientable
nonoriented
orientability
orientable
orientate
orientating
orientation
orientative
oriented
orientee
reorient
reorientate
reorientation
unorientable
unoriented
Translations: