Library / English Dictionary

ORPHAN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A young animal without a mother

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Hypernyms ("orphan" is a kind of...):

offspring; young (any immature animal)

Sense 2

Meaning:

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

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("orphan" is a kind of...):

line (text consisting of a row of words written across a page or computer screen)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A child who has lost both parents

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("orphan" is a kind of...):

child; fry; kid; minor; nestling; nipper; shaver; small fry; tiddler; tike; tyke; youngster (a young person of either sex)

Derivation:

orphan (deprive of parents)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Someone or something who lacks support or care or supervision

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("orphan" is a kind of...):

individual; mortal; person; somebody; someone; soul (a human being)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Deprive of parents

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Hypernyms (to "orphan" is one way to...):

deprive; divest; strip (take away possessions from someone)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Derivation:

orphan (a child who has lost both parents)

orphanage (a public institution for the care of orphans)

orphanage (the condition of being a child without living parents)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Nuclear Receptor Genes (NR Superfamily) encode over 300 ligand-dependent Nuclear Receptor (NRs) transcription factors: steroid, retinoid, vitamin D, TH, and orphan receptors (unknown ligands).

(Nuclear Receptor Gene, NCI Thesaurus)

This lady was one of my nearest relations, an orphan from her infancy, and under the guardianship of my father.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

“You must know,” said he, “that I am an orphan and a bachelor, residing alone in lodgings in London.”

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I had come to believe that he was an orphan with no relatives living, but one day, to my very great surprise, he began to talk to me about his brother.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Metastin is an endogenous ligand of orphan GPR54 (GPCR) and appears to inhibit chemotaxis and metastasis.

(Metastin, NCI Thesaurus)

Initially, they had been classified as classic endocrine nuclear hormone receptors and orphan receptors.

(Lipid Metabolism and Toxicity Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/BIOCARTA)

Godfrey is an orphan, and Lord Mount-James is his nearest relative—his uncle, I believe.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He and Jo keep us merry, for we get pretty blue sometimes, and feel like orphans, with you so far away.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Nuclear hormone receptors constitute a superfamily of structurally related ligand binding transcription factors that includes the steroid receptors, thyroid hormone receptors, vitamin D and retinoid receptors, and orphan receptors for which ligands have not yet been found.

(Nuclear Hormone Receptor Superfamily, NCI Thesaurus)

When Dorothy, who was an orphan, first came to her, Aunt Em had been so startled by the child's laughter that she would scream and press her hand upon her heart whenever Dorothy's merry voice reached her ears; and she still looked at the little girl with wonder that she could find anything to laugh at.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)