orb

Everyday

1. An orb is a ball or round object, especially one that glows. tree →
2. An orb is a golden ball with a cross on top, held by a king or queen at a coronation. tree →
3. (poetic) An orb can mean the sun, the moon, a planet or an eye. tree →
4. (games) In video games, an orb is a glowing ball you collect for points or power. tree →

In the lessons

In history lessons, the Sovereign's Orb is part of the British crown jewels, held by the monarch at the coronation as a sign of power under God. In stories and poems «orb» sounds grand or magical; in games, orbs give power-ups. Phrases: «a glowing orb», «orb and sceptre».

Examples

• The king held the orb and the sceptre. tree →
• A glowing orb floated above the wizard's hand. tree →
• The golden orb of the sun sank behind the hills. tree →
• Collect ten orbs to unlock the next level. tree →
• The crown jewels include a jewelled orb. tree →
• In the poem, the moon is called «the silver orb». tree →
• He had the crown on his head, carried his sceptre in one hand, and the orb in the other. tree →

Note

Countable; use «an» (an orb). Literary or special word; in everyday speech people say «ball». Do not confuse with «orbit» (the path round a planet), though both come from the idea of a circle.

In Jewish tradition

In these texts it means the round disc of the sun, the sphere in which it moves.

Interpretation. The tradition describes the paths of wisdom as perfecting everything that exists under the sun's sphere, that is, in the whole visible world.

Examples

• The Twenty-eighth Path is the Natural Intelligence, and is so called because through it is consummated and perfected the nature of every existent being under the orb of the Sun, in perfection. (Sefer Yetzirah, Westcott 1887) tree →
• The Twenty-seventh Path is the Exciting Intelli- gence, and it is so called because through it is consum- mated and perfected the nature of every existent being under the orb of the Sun, in perfection. (Sefer Yetzirah, Westcott 1893) tree →

Note

Countable; use «an» (an orb). Literary or special word; in everyday speech people say «ball». Do not confuse with «orbit» (the path round a planet), though both come from the idea of a circle.