orient

name

1. Usually preceded by the: alternative letter-case form of Orient (“a region or a part of the world to the east of a certain place; countries of Asia, the East (especially East Asia)”)

   “I, from the orient to the drooping weſt, / Making the wind my poſthorſe, ſtill unfold / The acts commenced on this ball of earth: […]”

   “God planted Paradise in Eden, in the orients; and placed there the man whom he had formed.”

   “I pitch my tent upon the naked sands, / And the tall palm, that plumes the orient lands, / Can with its beauty satisfy my heart.”

2. Usually preceded by the: a region or a part of the world to the east of a certain place; countries of Asia, the East (especially East Asia).
3. (dated)The countries east of the Mediterranean.
4. A number of places in the United States:
5. A number of places in the United States:
6. A number of places in the United States:
7. A number of places in the United States:
8. A number of places in the United States:
9. A number of places in the United States:
10. A number of places in the United States:
11. A number of places in the United States:
12. A number of places in the United States:
13. A number of places in the United States:
14. A rural locality in the Shire of Hinchinbrook, Queensland, Australia.

noun

1. The part of the horizon where the sun first appears in the morning; the east.

   “Loe in the Orient when the gracious light, Lifts vp his burning head, each vnder eye Doth homage to his new appearing ſight, [...]”

   “Morn in the white wake of the morning star / Came furrowing all the orient into gold.”

2. (obsolete)A pearl originating from the Indian region, reputed to be of great brilliance; (by extension) any pearl of particular beauty and value.

   “The chambers of the East are opened in every land, and the sun comes forth to sow the earth with orient pearl.”

   “It is indeed an 'extensive Volume,' of boundless, almost formless contents, a very Sea of Thought; neither calm nor clear, if you will; yet wherein the toughest pearl-diver may dive to his utmost depth, and return not only with sea-wreck but with true orients.”

   “Henry II. wore jewelled gloves reaching to the elbow, and had a hawk-glove sewn with twelve rubies and fifty-two great orients.”

3. (broadly)The brilliance or colour of a high-quality pearl.
4. A pear cultivar from the United States

adj

1. (also, dated, figuratively, not-comparable, poetic)Rising, like the morning sun.

   “Moon, that now meetſt the orient sun, now fli'ſt / With the fixt Starrs, fixt in thir Orb that flies, [...]”

2. (dated, not-comparable, poetic)Of the colour of the sky at daybreak; bright in colour, from red to yellow.

   “Then, I do so like the one or two principal walks, neatly edged with box, cut with most precise regularity, keeping guard over favourite plants:—columbines, bending on their slender stems; rose-bushes, covered with buds enough to furnish roses for months; pinks, with their dark eyes; and the orient glow of the marigold.”

3. (not-comparable)Of, facing, or located in the east; eastern, oriental.

   “To ſhewe that though this figure of the worlde in playne or flat ſeemeth to haue an ende, yet one imagining that this ſayde carde were ſet vpon a round thing, where the endes ſhoulde touche by the lines, it would plainely appeare howe the Orient part ioyneth with the Occident, as there without the lines it is deſcribed & figured.”

4. (not-comparable)Of a pearl or other gem: of great brilliance and value; (by extension) bright, lustrous.

   “Thinges to be carried with you, whereof more or leſſe is to be caried for a ſhewe of our commodities to bee made. Kerſies of all orient coulours, ſpecially of ſtamel [a fine worsted], brodecloth of orient colours alſo.”

   “[...] He gaue me a rope of the ſame Pearle, but they were blacke, and naught, yet many of them were very great, and a fewe amongſt a number very orient and round, [...]”

   “The liquid drops of Teares that you have ſhed, Shall come againe, transform'd to Orient Pearle, [...]”

   “And in thick ſhelter of black ſhades imbowr'd / Excells his Mother at her mightie Art / Offring to every wearie Travailer / His [Comus's] orient liquor in a Chryſtall glaſſe / To quench the drouth of Phœbus, [...]”

   “It is neceſſary to ſome men to have garments made of the Calabrian fleece, ſtain'd with the bloud of the murex, and to get money to buy pearls round and orient; [...] well may a ſober man wonder that men ſhould be ſo much in love with Earth and Corruption, the Parent of rottenneſs and a diſeaſe, [...]”

verb

1. (US, often, transitive)To build or place (something) so as to face eastward.
2. (US, broadly, often, transitive)To align or place (a person or object) so that his, her, or its east side, north side, etc., is positioned toward the corresponding points of the compass; (specifically, surveying) to rotate (a map attached to a plane table) until the line of direction between any two of its points is parallel to the corresponding direction in nature.

   “Without a compass the table is oriented, when set at one end of a line previously determined, by sighting back on this line, [...]. To orient the table, when at a station unconnected with others, is more difficult.”

   “He orients his photo-scale protractor over the intersection of the base line and compass line extended, by means of the bearing of base line AB (S. 32° W.) and reads bearing of compass line RP to 7 (N. 80° W.).”

3. (US, often, transitive)To direct towards or point at a particular direction.

   “The workers oriented all the signs to face the road.”

   “The present methods of manufacture of fiber boards tend to orient the fibers so that they are most effective for insulation.”

   “When a substance is placed in an electric field, the molecules tend to orient themselves in a definite pattern with respect to the direction of the field. The dielectric constant of the material can, for simplicity, be defined as a measure of the degree to which the individual particles are oriented or the material polarized.”

   “The goal is to draw on reservoirs of strength that defy rational thought, so you can wrench your poor, obsessed spirit away from work and orient it toward stuff that matters.”

4. (US, often, reflexive, transitive)To determine which direction one is facing.

   “Let me just orient myself and we can be on our way.”

   “All around your spirit, the universe lies open and free, and you can go where you will. Orient yourself! Orient yourself! [...] [S]tudy and obey the sublime laws on which the frame of nature was constructed; study and obey the sublimer laws on which the soul of man was formed; and the fulness of the power and the wisdom and the blessedness, with which God has filled and lighted up this resplendent universe, shall all be yours!”

   “The two stars, one at the Pole and the other at the Equator, were essential to both orienting and dating the structure. Hence the conclusion that the Great Pyramid could not have accomplished its design as a monumental witnessing pillar at any other time, and that the only time when the aid indispensable was possible was B.C. 2170.”

5. (US, figuratively, often, reflexive, transitive)To familiarize (oneself or someone) with a circumstance or situation.

   “Give him time to orient himself within the new hierarchy.”

   “Thus the thought-world is a symbol, or system of symbols, which serves the organic beings of the real world for orienting themselves in the world of actual being, and is the means whereby they translate the proceedings of this world into the language of the soul.”

   “Computer Systems Analyst II [...] Determines and resolves data processing problems and coordinates the work with program, users, etc.; orients user personnel on new or changed procedures.”

   “The first system of attention underlies orienting to and exploration of objects in the environment and is composed of at least two networks involved in orienting to locations in space and object recognition, respectively [...].”

6. (US, figuratively, often, transitive)To set the focus of (something) so as to appeal or relate to a certain group.

   “We will orient our campaign to the youth who are often disinterested.”

   “Whatever the occasion of the public religious observance, whether it was the holding of a temple fair, praying for rain, or celebrating a popular festival, religion came to serve as a symbol of common devotion in bringing people out of their divergent routines and orienting them toward community activities.”

7. (US, intransitive, often)To change direction to face a certain way.

   “Observation stations were established at vantage points along the coast to monitor gray whale responses to the sounds generated by the air gun array. [...] At 3 miles some whales appeared to orient toward the sound.”