orphan
Use Orphan in a sentence
fən noun
1.
a child who has lost both parents through death, or, less commonly, one parent.
2.
a young animal that has been deserted by or has lost its mother.
3.
a person or thing that is without protective affiliation, sponsorship, etc.: The committee is an orphan of the previous administration.
adjective
5.
bereft of parents.
6.
of or for orphans: an orphan home.
7.
not authorized, supported, or funded; not part of a system; isolated; abandoned: an orphan research project.
8.
lacking a commercial sponsor, an employer, etc.: orphan workers.
00:10
Orphan
is one of our favorite verbs.
So is skedaddle. Does it mean:
| to run away hurriedly; flee. |
| to chew (food) slowly and thoroughly. |
verb (used with object)
9.
to deprive of parents or a parent through death: He was orphaned at the age of four.
10.
Informal. to deprive of commercial sponsorship, an employer, etc.: The recession has orphaned many experienced workers.
Origin:
1425–75; late Middle English (noun) < Late Latin orphanus destitute, without parents < Greek orphanós bereaved; akin to Latin orbus bereaved
1425–75; late Middle English (noun) < Late Latin orphanus destitute, without parents < Greek orphanós bereaved; akin to Latin orbus bereaved
Related forms
or·phan·hood, noun
half-or·phan, noun
un·or·phaned, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
Cite This Source
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Link To orphan
Collins
World English Dictionary
orphan (ˈɔːfən) ![[Click for IPA pronunciation guide]](http://static.sfdict.com/dictstatic/g/d/dictionary_questionbutton_default.gif) | |
| —n | |
| 1. | a. a child, one or (more commonly) both of whose parents are dead |
| b. (as modifier): an orphan child | |
| 2. | printing the first line of a paragraph separated from the rest of the paragraph by occurring at the foot of a page |
| —vb | |
| 3. | (tr) to deprive of one or both parents |
| [C15: from Late Latin orphanus, from Greek orphanos; compare Latin orbus bereaved] | |
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
Etymonline
Word Origin & History
orphan
c.1300, from L.L. orphanus "parentless child" (cf. O.Fr. orfeno, It. orfano), from Gk. orphanos "orphaned," lit. "deprived," from orphos "bereft," from PIE *orbho- "bereft of father," also "deprived of free status," from base *orbh- "to change allegiance, to pass from one status to another" (cf. Hittite
harb- "change allegiance," L. orbus "bereft," Skt. arbhah "weak, child," Arm. orb "orphan," O.Ir. orbe "heir," O.C.S. rabu "slave," rabota "servitude" (cf. robot), Goth. arbja, Ger. erbe, O.E. ierfa "heir," O.H.G. arabeit, Ger. Arbeit "work," O.Fris. arbed, O.E. earfoð "hardship, suffering, trouble"). The verb is attested from 1814. Orphanage "institute or home for orphans" is first attested 1865.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Slang Dictionary
orphan
n. [Unix] A process whose parent has died; one inherited by `init(1)'. Compare zombie.
Jargon
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Example sentences from the web
Vincent, and all that was known of her past was the fact of her being an orphan.
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