Orbit definitions and example sentences on Wordnik

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American Heritage Dictionary (9)

noun The path of a celestial body or an artificial satellite as it revolves around another body.
noun One complete revolution of such a body.
noun The path of a body in a field of force surrounding another body; for example, the movement of an atomic electron in relation to a nucleus.

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Century Dictionary (9)

Track; course; path, especially a path, as that in a circle or an ellipse, which returns into itself; specifically, in astronomy, the path of a planet or comet; the curve-line which a planet describes in its periodical revolution round its central body or center of revolution: as, the orbit of Jupiter or Mercury. The orbits of the planets are elliptical, having the sun in one of the foci; and they all move in these ellipses by this law—that a straight line drawn from the center of the sun to the center of any one of them, termed the radius vector, always describes equal areas in equal times. Also, the squares of the times of the planetary revolutions are as the cubes of their mean distances from the sun. These are called Kepler's laws (see law). The attractions of the planets for one another slightly derange these laws, and cause the orbits to undergo various changes. The satellites, too, move in elliptical orbits, having their respective primaries in one of the foci. The parabolic and hyperbolic paths of comets are also called orbits. The elements of an orbit are those quantities by which its position and magnitude for the time are determined, such as the major axis and eccentricity, the longitude of the node and the inclination of the plane to the ecliptic, and the longitude of the perihelion. In the ancient astronomy the orbit of a planet is its eccentric or the deferent of its epicycle.
A small orb, globe, or ball. Attend, and you discern it [ambition] in the fair; Conduct a finger, or reclaim a hair, Or roll the lucid orbit of an eye. Young, Satires, v. We saw The God within him light his face, And seem to lift the form, and glow In azure orbits heavenly-wise. Tennyson, In Memoriam, lxxxvii.
In anatomy and zoology, the bony cavity of the skull which contains the eye; the eye-socket. In man the orbits are a pair of quadrilateral pyramidal cavities completely surrounded by bone, and separated from though communicating with the cranial cavity and the nasal and temporal fossæ, and opening forward upon the face, with the apex at the optic foramen where the optic nerve enters. Seven bones enter into the formation of each orbit, the frontal, sphenoid, ethmoid, maxillary, palatal, lacrymal, and malar, of which the first-named three are common to both orbits. Each orbit communicates with surrounding cavities by several openings, the principal of which are—with the cranial cavity by the optic foramen and sphenoidal fissure; with the nasal fossæ by the lacrymal canal; with the temporal and zygomatic fossæ by the sphenomaxillary fissure; with ethmoidal parts by the anterior and posterior ethmoidal foramina; and with the face by supra-orbital, infra-orbital, extra-orbital, and malar foramina. The orbit contains the eye and its associate muscular, vascular, glandular, sustentacular, mucous, and nervous structures.

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The force that makes apples fall and holds planets in their orbit is also the only fundamental physical process capable of destroying information. — New Scientist - Space
Pyongyang says the test of the three-stage Taepodong-2 rocket was a success, putting a satellite into orbit which is now transmitting data and revolutionary songs. — BBC News | News Front Page | World Edition
With these simple assumptions, he showed that the energy of the orbit is a constant that may be expressed by a combination of the known constants e, me, and ℏ. — PENSIEVE
To do that, you might need to go up to geostationary orbit which is much farther out and according to one expert, just wouldn't have the resolution. — Boing Boing
I recently came across orbit, which is one of the best navigation options available for the iPhone and iPod Touch. — Cult of Mac

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trajectory · satellite · velocity · rotation · motion · plane · sphere · location · altitude · route · flight · circle

Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

American Heritage Dictionary (1)

Middle English orbite, eye socket, from Old French, from Latin orbita, orbit, probably from orbis.

Century Dictionary (1)

from French orbite = Spanish órbita (anatomy) = Portuguese Italian orbita, from Latin orbita, the track of a wheel, a rut, hence any track, course, or path, an impression or mark, a circuit or orbit, as of the moon. from orbis, a circle, ring, wheel, etc.: see orb.

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