Princeton's WordNet(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. orphan(noun)

   a child who has lost both parents

2. orphan(noun)

   someone or something who lacks support or care or supervision

3. orphan(noun)

   the first line of a paragraph that is set as the last line of a page or column

4. orphan(verb)

   a young animal without a mother

5. orphan(verb)

   deprive of parents

Wiktionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. orphan(Noun)

   A person, especially a minor, both or (rarely) one of whose parents have died.

2. orphan(Noun)

   A young animal with no mother.

3. orphan(Noun)

   Anything that is unsupported, as by its source, provider or caretaker, by reason of the supporter's demise or decision to abandon.

4. orphan(Noun)

   A single line of type, beginning a paragraph, at the bottom of a column or page.

5. orphan(Noun)

   Any unreferenced abstract object.

6. orphan(Verb)

   To deprive of parents (used almost exclusively in the passive)

   What do you do when you come across two orphaned polar bear cubs?

7. orphan(Verb)

   To make unavailable, as by unlinking the last remaining pointer to.

8. orphan(Adjective)

   Deprived of parents (also orphaned).

   She is an orphan child.

9. orphan(Adjective)

   Remaining after the removal of some form of support.

   With its government funding curtailed, the gun registry became an orphan program.

Origin: From orphanus, from ὀρφανός, from Hórbʰo-. Cognate with Sanskrit अर्भ, Latin orbus, Old High German erbi, arbi (German Erbe), ierfa. More at erf.

Freebase(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Orphan

   An orphan is a child permanently bereaved of or abandoned by his or her parents. In common usage, only a child who has lost both parents is called an orphan. When referring to animals, only the mother's condition is usually relevant. If she has gone, the offspring is an orphan, regardless of the father's condition. Adults can also be referred to as orphans, or adult orphans. However, survivors who reached adulthood before their parents died are normally not called orphans. It is a term generally reserved for children whose parents have died while they are too young to support themselves.

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Orphan

   or′fan, n. a child bereft of father or mother, or of both.—adj. bereft of parents.—v.t. to bereave of parents.—ns. Or′phanage, the state of being an orphan: a house for orphans; Or′phan-asy′lum; Or′phanhood, Or′phanism; Orphanot′rophy, the supporting of orphans. [Gr. orphanos, akin to L. orbus, bereaved.]

The New Hacker's Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. orphan

   [Unix] A process whose parent has died; one inherited by init(1). Compare zombie.

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of orphan in Chaldean Numerology is: 1

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of orphan in Pythagorean Numerology is: 9

Sample Sentences & Example Usage

1. Joyce Varner:

   I am going to be an elder orphan, too.

2. Unknown:

   Success has many fathers, but failure is an orphan.

3. John F. Kennedy, "A Thousand Days," by Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr [1965]., p289. Comment made by JFK in the aftermath of the fai:

   Victory has a thousand fathers; defeat is an orphan.

4. Prophet Mohammed:

   The best of the houses is the house where an orphan gets love and kindness.

5. Johnny Chaillot-Louganis:

   We felt like orphans and then Johnny was an orphan from his city and his job.

Images & Illustrations of orphan