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orphan |
6 definitions found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Orphan \Or"phan\, n. [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. From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Orphan \Or"phan\, a. Bereaved of parents, or sometimes of one parent. From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Orphan \Or"phan\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Orphaned}; p. pr & vb n. {Orphaning}.] To cause to become an orphan; to deprive of parents. --Young. From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]: orphan adj : deprived of parents by death or desertion [syn: {orphaned}] n : a child who has lost both parents v : deprive of parents From Jargon File (4.2.3, 23 NOV 2000) [jargon]: orphan n. [Unix] A process whose parent has died; one inherited by `init(1)'. Compare {zombie}. From THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993) [devils]: 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.
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