orient

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.

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.

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

• The chambers of the East are opened in every land, and the sun comes forth to sow the earth with orient pearl.
• Henry II. wore jewelled gloves reaching to the elbow, and had a hawk-glove sewn with twelve rubies and fifty-two great orients.

The brilliance or colour of a high-quality pearl.broadly

Rising, like the morning sun.alsodatedfiguratively

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

Of the colour of the sky at daybreak; bright in colour, from red to yellow.datednot-comparablepoetic

• 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 ro

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

• 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 O

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

• 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, [...]

To build or place (something) so as to face eastward.USoftentransitive

• The first kind of interment was that of leaden coffins, rectangular in shape, covered with a lid, occupying deeper graves than any of the other interments, more or less accurately oriented, sometimes containing coins, as of the Emperor Grat

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 thUSbroadlyoften

• 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.).

To direct towards or point at a particular direction.USoftentransitive

• The workers oriented all the signs to face the road.

To determine which direction one is facing.USoftenreflexive

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

To familiarize (oneself or someone) with a circumstance or situation.USfigurativelyoften

• Give him time to orient himself within the new hierarchy.

To set the focus of (something) so as to appeal or relate to a certain group.USfigurativelyoften

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

To change direction to face a certain way.USintransitiveoften

• 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.