Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. The path of a celestial body or an artificial satellite as it revolves around another body.
- n. One complete revolution of such a body.
- n. 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.
- n. A range of activity, experience, or knowledge.
- n. A range of control or influence: "What magnetism drew these quaking ruined creatures into his orbit?” ( Malcolm Lowry). See Synonyms at range.
- n. Either of two bony cavities in the skull containing an eye and its external structures; an eye socket.
- v. To put into an orbit: orbit a satellite.
- v. To revolve around (a center of attraction): The moon orbits Earth.
- v. To move in an orbit.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. 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 (seelaw ). 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 calledorbits . 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. - n. A small orb, globe, or ball.
- n. 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.
- n. In ornithology, the orbita, or circumorbital region of a bird's head; the skin of the eyelids and adjoining parts.
- n. In entomology, the border surrounding the compound eye of an insect, especially when it forms a raised ring, or differs in color or texture from the rest of the head. In Diptera the different parts of this border are distinguished as the anterior or facial orbit, the inferior or genal, the posterior or occipital, the superior or vertical, and the frontal, according to the regions of the head of which they form a part. When not otherwise stated, orbit generally means the inner margin of the eye, or that formed by the epicranium.
Wiktionary
- n. A circular or elliptical path of one object around another object.
- n. A sphere of influence; an area of control.
- n. The course of one's usual progression, or the extent of one's typical range.
- n. anatomy The bony cavity containing the eyeball; the eye socket.
- n. physics The path an electron takes around an atom's nucleus.
- n. mathematics A collection of points related by the evolution function of a dynamical system.
- v. To circle or revolve around another object.
- v. To move around the general vicinity of something.
- v. To place an object into an orbit around a planet.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Astron.) The path described by a heavenly body in its periodical revolution around another body.
- n. Rare & Improper An orb or ball.
- n. (Anat.) The cavity or socket of the skull in which the eye and its appendages are situated.
- n. (Zoöl.) The skin which surrounds the eye of a bird.
WordNet 3.0
- v. move in an orbit
- n. a particular environment or walk of life
- n. the (usually elliptical) path described by one celestial body in its revolution about another
- n. the bony cavity in the skull containing the eyeball
- n. an area in which something acts or operates or has power or control:
- n. the path of an electron around the nucleus of an atom
Etymologies
- From Latin orbita ("course, track"). (Wiktionary)
- Middle English orbite, eye socket, from Old French, from Latin orbita, orbit, probably from orbis. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“They speak of the sun's motion, and of the sun's orbit, _but they do not say that the earth is the center of that orbit_.”
Fables of Infidelity and Facts of Faith Being an Examination of the Evidences of Infidelity
“(lower orbit) * period: from mid-March 2009 to late April* operation: 50 km circular orbit* mission: acquisition of the magnetic field of lunar surface using magnetometer and plasma observation system.”
“Putting an object in orbit is an accomplishment only a few national governments have been able to accomplish.”
Another Launch Success for SpaceX and Falcon 1 (video) - NASA Watch
“This idea, of a gas station in orbit, is the most cost effective and quickest means of reaching the moon.”
Reader's Consensus: Develop a new launch vehicle - NASA Watch
“The likelihood of a crew being stranded in orbit is thus reduced.”
ISS About to Have a Crew of Six With Soyuz-TMA 15 Launch - NASA Watch
“I do strongly think that Martian colonies will exist, enabled by spaceships built in orbit from the resources gleaned from the Moon.”
“The use of liquids, and an engine which can restart in orbit, is * very* impressive.”
“Yet even with its on-board controls, Canadarm's mass in orbit is less than two per cent of what it can manipulate.”
“INSKEEP: A group of Australian brewers is trying to deal with this problem, creating a beer that tastes great in orbit, which is a challenge because there's no carbonation in a zero-gravity environment, which means that the beer has to taste good even though it will be flat.”
“I think cost to orbit is too high for either of these programs to pan out but I wish them well.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘orbit’.
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Artistic words
Good for poetry, or just artistic on their own.
fluxus, gallant, kinetic, lurk, disengage, mist, agleam, voyeur, devoid, crimson, ebony, azure and 94 more...
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Specifically
Being a list of words which have "specifically" in their definitions.
recompose, specifically, Dutch, abstinence, discipline, virtue, namely, opening, century, amalgamation, cup, second and 303 more...
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Thresholds
we are all just passing through.
(boundaries, portals and liminal spaces/times)cockcrow, interface, thin line, portal, postern, littoral, interstice, port, membrane, skin, crepuscule, dawn and 309 more...
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lunar
words associated with the moon
la lune, gibbous, waxing, waning, crescent, blue moon, corn moon, lunation, mare cognitum, half, full, eclipse and 9 more...
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Skunk Works
Words associated with the legendary 'Skunk Works' Advanced Development Program at Lockheed Martin.
( open list, randomness )transonic, supersonic, hypersonic, x-plane, stratosphere, supercruise, thrust, liftoff, mach, stealth, afterburn, classified and 9 more...
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intueri's Words
inveigle, dolorous, archly, feckless, resplendent, concatenation, peripatetic, delightful, cookie, fey, ephemeral, effervescent and 347 more...
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the first list
an immense, grandiloquent list that loads like a thousand years sentence in stone. new words are in the other lists.
ridiculous, brummagem, predicament, sanctimonious, vapid, eschew, admonish, auspicious, capitulation, enumerate, lachrymose, tenet and 1648 more...
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Physical anthropology
acclimatization, adriatic, aegyptid, aeta, aethiopid, africoid, ainuid, aistin, alae, alare, albino, allele and 202 more...
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eggplantia5's Words
scintillate, marvel, cranberry, oscillate, triumph, bamboozle, grimace, magical, book, hexagon, cipher, compendium and 2727 more...
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kat's words
ecumenical, cacophony, clatter, marimba, bamboo, saffron, slice, mercurial, pomegranate, cranky, slipshod, scritch and 511 more...
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Words I have to learn
exasperate, felony, weld, fraud, worksheet, ransom, rehearse, preliminary, offshore, parole, infamous, sieve and 436 more...
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Basic English Vocabulary
Very basic words for ESL students.
a, abandon, ability, able, abortion, about, above, abroad, absence, absolute, absolutely, absorb and 4334 more...
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Misc. Words.
Words I like to use, words I like but may forget.
corrosion, astonish, solace, ferment, continuum, kinesthetic, permeate, repose, caprice, cardinal, discourse, surrender and 610 more...
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breeze debris
autodidact, hollographic, neurotheology, pensive, grapple, nondual, integral, phantasmagoria, burnished, capacious, ginger, astral and 120 more...
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NASA
A place for NASA-related stuff, from Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Skylab, etc.
faithful shepard, lunar module, command service m..., trajectory, moon shot, apollo, mercury, gemini, skylab, viking, velcro, tang and 103 more...
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my dictionary
able, abnormally, abroad, absent, abstract, acceptable, acceptance, access, accessible, accession, according to, account and 4551 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for orbit.

sonofgroucho Also the part of the skull in which the eye sits. Dec 17, 2007