orphan - definition of orphan - synonyms, pronunciation, spelling from Free Dictionary

Open English WordNet

Noun (4)orphans

a child who has lost both parentsType of child, kid
someone or something who lacks support or care or supervisionType of person, individual
the first line of a paragraph that is set as the last line of a page or columnType of line
a young animal without a motherType of young, offspring

Verb (1)orphans, orphaned, orphaning

deprive of parentsMore general deprive, strip

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haphazardadjective

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Webster's Dictionary (1913)

Or′phan noun

Origin: L. orphanus, Gr. …, akin to L. orbus. Cf. Orb a blank window.

A child bereaved of both father and mother; sometimes, also, a child who has but one parent living.

Orphans' court Law, a court in some of the States of the Union, having jurisdiction over the estates and persons of orphans or other wards. Bouvier, John

Or′phan adjective

Bereaved of parents, or (sometimes) of one parent.

Or′phan transitive verb [past tense & past participle Orphaned; present participle & verbal noun Orphaning.]

To cause to become an orphan; to deprive of parents. Edward Young

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54

Free On-line Dictionary of Computing

orphan

<Debian> A Debian package without a maintainer.

The Jargon File

orphan n.

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

The Devil's Dictionary

ORPHAN, n. A living person whom death has deprived of the power of filial ingratitude -- a privation appealing with a particular eloquence to all that is sympathetic in human nature. When young the orphan is commonly sent to an asylum, where by careful cultivation of its rudimentary sense of locality it is taught to know its place. It is then instructed in the arts of dependence and servitude and eventually turned loose to prey upon the world as a bootblack or scullery maid.