orb

• POS: Noun, Verb (usu participle), Verb (transitive)

CIDE DICTIONARY

orb, n. [OF. orb blind, fr. L. orbus destitute.].

 A blank window or panel.  Oxf. Gloss.  [1913 Webster]

orb, n. [F. orbe, fr. L. orbis circle, orb. Cf. Orbit.].

•  A spherical body; a globe; especially, one of the celestial spheres; a sun, planet, or star.  [1913 Webster]

  "In the small orb of one particular tear."  [1913 Webster]

  "Whether the prime orb,
  Incredible how swift, had thither rolled."  [1913 Webster]
•  One of the azure transparent spheres conceived by the ancients to be inclosed one within another, and to carry the heavenly bodies in their revolutions.  [1913 Webster]
•  A circle; esp., a circle, or nearly circular orbit, described by the revolution of a heavenly body; an orbit.  [1913 Webster]

  "The schoolmen were like astronomers, which did feign eccentrics, and epicycles, and such engines of orbs."  [1913 Webster]

  "You seem to me as Dian in her orb."  [1913 Webster]

  "In orbs
  Of circuit inexpressible they stood,
  Orb within orb."  [1913 Webster]
•  A period of time marked off by the revolution of a heavenly body.  Milton.  [1913 Webster]
•  The eye, as luminous and spherical.  [1913 Webster]

  "A drop serene hath quenched their orbs."  [1913 Webster]
•  A revolving circular body; a wheel.  [1913 Webster]

  "The orbs
  Of his fierce chariot rolled."  [1913 Webster]
•  A sphere of action or influence.  Wordsworth.  [1913 Webster]

  "But in our orbs we'll live so round and safe."  [1913 Webster]
•  Same as Mound, a ball or globe. See 1st Mound.  [1913 Webster]
•  A body of soldiers drawn up in a circle, as for defense, esp. infantry to repel cavalry.  [1913 Webster]

Syn. -- Globe; ball; sphere. See Globe.

orb, v. t. 

•  To form into an orb or circle.  Milton. Lowell.  [1913 Webster]
•  To encircle; to surround; to inclose.  [1913 Webster]

  "The wheels were orbed with gold."  [1913 Webster]

orb, v. i. 

 To become round like an orb.  [1913 Webster]
"And orb into the perfect star."  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

orb, n. & v.
--n.
1 a globe surmounted by a cross esp. carried by a sovereign at a coronation.
2 a sphere; a globe.
3 poet. a heavenly body.
4 poet. an eyeball; an eye.
--v.
1 tr. enclose in (an orb); encircle.
2 intr. form or gather into an orb.

Etymology

L orbis ring

THESAURUS

orb

Aldebaran, Canicula, Dog Star, Hesper, Hesperus, Lucifer, North Star, Phosphor, Phosphorus, Polaris, Sirius, Venus, Vesper, ambit, area, arena, baby blues, bailiwick, ball, balloon, banjo eyes, beat, bladder, blob, boll, bolus, border, borderland, bright eyes, bubble, bulb, bulbil, bulblet, cap of dignity, cap of maintenance, celestial body, circle, circuit, clear eyes, comet, cornea, coronet, crown, daystar, demesne, department, diadem, discipline, domain, dominion, ellipsoid, ermine, evening star, eye, eyeball, eyelid, field, fixed stars, geoid, globe, globelet, globoid, globule, glomerulus, gob, gobbet, goggle eyes, great seal, heavenly body, hemisphere, iris, judicial circuit, jurisdiction, knob, knot, lamp, lens, lid, living sapphires, lodestar, march, morning star, naked eye, nictitating membrane, oblate spheroid, ocular, oculus, optic, optic nerve, orbit, orblet, organ of vision, pale, peeper, pellet, polar star, polestar, popeyes, precinct, privy seal, prolate spheroid, province, pupil, purple, purple pall, realm, regalia, retina, robe of state, rod, rod of empire, rondure, round, royal crown, saucer eyes, scepter, sclera, seal, signet, sphere, spheroid, spherule, starry host, starry orbs, stars, subdiscipline, tiara, triple plume, unaided eye, uraeus, visual organ, walk, winker

ROGET THESAURUS

orb

Business

N business, occupation, employment, pursuit, what one is doing, what one is about, affair, concern, matter, case, matter in hand, irons in the fire, thing to do, agendum, task, work, job, chore, errand, commission, mission, charge, care, duty, part, role, cue, province, function, lookout, department, capacity, sphere, orb, field, line, walk, walk of life, beat, round, routine, race, career, office, place, post, chargeship, incumbency, living, situation, berth, employ, service, engagement, undertaking, vocation, calling, profession, cloth, faculty, industry, art, industrial arts, craft, mystery, handicraft, trade, exercise, work, avocation, press of business, businesslike, workaday, professional, official, functional, busy, on hand, in hand, in one's hands, afoot, on foot, on the anvil, going on, acting, in the course of business, all in one's day's work, professionally Adj, a business with an income at its heels, amoto quaeramus seria ludo, par negotiis neque supra.

Region

N region, sphere, ground, soil, area, field, realm, hemisphere, quarter, district, beat, orb, circuit, circle, reservation, pale, compartment, department, clearing, (property) &c 780 (Government), 1 arena, precincts, enceinte, walk, march, patch, plot, parcel, inclosure, close, field, court, enclave, reserve, preserve, street, clime, climate, zone, meridian, latitude, biosphere, lithosphere, territorial, local, parochial, provincial, regional.

Circularity

N circularity, roundness, rotundity, circle, circlet, ring, areola, hoop, roundlet, annulus, annulet, bracelet, armlet, ringlet, eye, loop, wheel, cycle, orb, orbit, rundle, zone, belt, cordon, band, contrate wheel, crown wheel, hub, nave, sash, girdle, cestus, cincture, baldric, fillet, fascia, wreath, garland, crown, corona, coronet, chaplet, snood, necklace, collar, noose, lasso, lassoo, ellipse, oval, ovule, ellipsoid, cycloid, epicycloid, epicycle, semicircle, quadrant, sextant, sector, sphere, round, rounded, circular, annular, orbicular, oval, ovate, elliptic, elliptical, egg-shaped, pear-shaped, cycloidal, spherical, I watched the little circles die.

Luminary

N luminary, light, flame, spark, scintilla, phosphorescence, fluorescence, sun, orb of day, Phoebus, Apollo, Aurora, star, orb, meteor, falling star, shooting star, blazing star, dog star, Sirius, canicula, Aldebaran, constellation, galaxy, zodiacal light, anthelion, day star, morning star, Lucifer, mock sun, parhelion, phosphor, phosphorus, sun dog, Venus, aurora, polar lights, northern lights, aurora borealis, southern lights, aurora australis, lightning, chain lightning, fork lightning, sheet lightning, summer lightning, ball lightning, kugelblitz, phosphorus, yellow phosphorus, scintillator, phosphor, firefly luminescence, ignis fatuus, Jack o'lantern, Friar's lantern, will-o'-the- wisp, firedrake, Fata Morgana, Saint Elmo's fire, glowworm, firefly, June bug, lightning bug, anglerfish, gas, gas light, lime light, lantern, lanthorn, dark lantern, bull's-eye, candle, bougie, taper, rushlight, oil, wick, burner, Argand, moderator, duplex, torch, flambeau, link, brand, gaselier, chandelier, electrolier, candelabrum, candelabra, girandole, sconce, luster, candlestick, lamp, light, incandescent lamp, tungsten bulb, light bulb, flashlight, torch, arc light, laser, maser neon bulb, neon sign, fluorescent lamp, filament, socket, contacts, filler gas, firework, fizgig, pyrotechnics, rocket, lighthouse, self-luminous, glowing, phosphoric, phosphorescent, fluorescent, incandescent, luminescent, chemiluminescent, radiant, blossomed the lovely stars, the forget-me-nots of the angels, the sentinel stars set their watch in the sky, the planets in their station list'ning stood, the Scriptures of the skies, that orbed continent, the fire that severs day from night.