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orphaned

 - 5 dictionary results

or⋅phan

  [awr-fuhn]
Use orphaned in a Sentence
–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.
4. Printing.
a. (esp. in word processing) the first line of a paragraph when it appears alone at the bottom of a page.
b. widow (def. 3b).
–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.
–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 ME (n.) < LL orphanus destitute, without parents < Gk orphanós bereaved; akin to L orbus bereaved

Related forms:
or⋅phan⋅hood, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To orphaned
or·phan   (ôr'fən)   
n.  

    1. A child whose parents are dead.

    2. A child who has been deprived of parental care and has not been adopted.

    3. A line of type beginning a new paragraph at the bottom of a column or page.

    4. A short line of type at the bottom of a paragraph, column, or page; a widow.

  2. A young animal without a mother.

  3. One that lacks support, supervision, or care: A lack of corporate interest has made the subsidiary an orphan.

  4. An orphan technology or product.

    1. A line of type beginning a new paragraph at the bottom of a column or page.

    2. A short line of type at the bottom of a paragraph, column, or page; a widow.

adj.  

  1. Deprived of parents.

  2. Intended for orphans: an orphan home.

  3. Lacking support, supervision, or care.

  4. Not developed or marketed, especially on account of being commercially unprofitable: "an aggregation of every orphan technology at the Pentagon, stuff that's been around for years that nobody would buy" (Harper's).

tr.v.   or·phaned, or·phan·ing, or·phans
To deprive (a child or young animal) of a parent or parents.

[Middle English, from Late Latin orphanus, from Greek orphanos, orphaned; see orbh- in Indo-European roots.]
or'phan·hood' n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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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, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Financial Dictionary

orphan

Of or relating to a security that is not regularly covered by security analysts. An orphan security is likely to attract little investor interest and to sell at a relatively low price compared with other securities of the same type. For example, an orphan stock is likely to sell at a low price-earnings ratio and an orphan bond will offer a relatively high yield.

Case Study

Many individuals in the financial community believe investment banking firms have an obligation to provide continuing research coverage of companies they take public. Research coverage increases a firm's exposure to the investment community, an important benefit for the firm and its shareholders, especially investors who acquired stock during the initial public offering. Dropping coverage of a small company and causing the stock to become an orphan can have a devastating effect on the stock's liquidity and market price. In some instances coverage is discontinued because of a loss of investor interest, in which case any remaining investor interest can virtually disappear. Orphan stocks became more common in the tech stock meltdown of 2000-01. In October 2001 Credit Suisse First Boston dropped coverage of Evolve Software, a software and fiber optics company that CSFB took public for $9 a share in August 2000. Although the stock quickly tripled in price following the initial public offering, it soon got caught in the downdraft of the bear market for technology stocks and had declined to approximately 25¢ per share by the time CSFB dropped its coverage of the firm. The analyst at Credit Suisse First Boston remained bullish on the stock until coverage was suddenly dropped a little more than a year after his firm managed the initial public offering.

Wall Street Words: An A to Z Guide to Investment Terms by David L. Scott.
Copyright © 2003. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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Legal Dictionary

Main Entry: or·phan
Function: noun
: a child deprived by death of one or usually both parents; broadly : a child without a parent or guardian
Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law, © 1996 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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