Etymology: < (i) Middle French, French orbe sphere in which a celestical body moves (c1265 in Old French), orbit of a planet or other celestial object (1273; also in Old French as horbe circle (13th–14th cent., rare)), and its etymon (ii) classical Latin orbis circle, sphere, the earth, the world, celestial object with the form of a sphere or the apparent form of a disc, the eyeball, the eye, an object of spherical shape, an object of circular shape, an object having the form of a ring, a recurring period, cycle, the orbit of a planet or other celestial object, a fish, perhaps a kind of sun-fish; of unknown origin.With sense 2a compare classical Latin orbis terrārum, German Erdkreis (first half of the 16th cent. as Erdenkreis).

Etymology: < Anglo-Norman orbe (see quot. 1395 below), use as noun of orb blind, dark; compare Old French orbe blind (c1050 as orbs ), dark (end of the 12th cent.)) < classical Latin orbus blind (Apuleius, 2nd cent. a.d.), originally deprived of (see orb adj.; compare orbus lūminis bereft of light, blind, Ovid Metamorphoses 3. 518). Compare post-classical Latin orba (see quots. 1480¹ below). Compare earlier orbing n.Compare examples of Anglo-Norman orbe and post-classical Latin orba in British sources:1395 in T. Rymer Fœdera (1709) VII. 796 [Tomb of Richard II and Queen Anne] Et les ditz Masons serront Measons pur xii. Images..vi. a l'une coste, & vi. al'autre coste..& le remenaunt du dite Toumbe Serra fait ove orbes, accordantz & semblables as dites Measons pur Ymages.1480 W. Worcester Itineraries 401 Et habet 4 storyes..In superiori historia tres orbe in qualibet panella.1480 W. Worcester Itineraries 401 In secunda et tercia historia sunt due orbe in qualibet panella 4 panellarum. In inferiori panella sunt in duobus panellis in qualibet panella south et west fenestre in alijs duobus panellis ex parte boriali et orientali sunt due arche. Anglo-Norman orbe ‘blind’ is used in architecture in the phrase orbe oeuereigne blind tracery:1359 in L. F. Salzman Building in Eng. (1992) App. B. 439 William ad empris le oeuereigne de masounerie de dusze chapelles..et a cesser le orbe oeuereigne de les chapelles. French orbe ‘blind’ is used in architecture in the phrases orbes arkes blind arcades (1260 in Old French), mur orbe a blind or blank wall, i.e. a wall without doors or windows (1701). The explanation ‘circular boss’ at sense (b) goes with a conjectured derivation from classical Latin orbis orb n.¹; but this does not suit post-classical Latin orba . Some writers have argued that this is a conjectural, erroneous sense, and that in all older texts sense (a) is meant:1844 R. Willis Archit. Nomencl. Middle Ages 54 In all these examples the word [orb] plainly applies itself to a blank or blind window... The fact that stone pannelling was first called by a name that implies a blank window, would explain the history of its introduction into mediæval architecture.

Etymology: < classical Latin orbus without or bereaved of parents or children < the same Indo-European base as Sanskrit arbha (adjective) small, young, (noun) child, ancient Greek ὀρϕανός orphan adj., Gothic arbi inheritance (see erf n.¹), Early Irish orb heir, inheritance, orbe inheritance (Irish †orba , forba inheritance, estate, glebe-land), Armenian orb orphan. Compare slightly earlier orbity n.

Etymology: < orb n.¹