ORB 
fcerreftrial ftrata are expanded. Woodward's Nat. Hift .— 
Circular body: 
They with a ftorm of darts to diftance drive 
The Trojan chief; -who, held at bay from far, 
On his Vulcanian orb fuftain’d the war. Dryden. 
Mundane fphere; celeftial body ; light of heaven : 
In the floor of heaven 
There's-not the 1 'ina!left orb which thou behold’ft, 
But in his motion like an angel lings, 
Still qairing to the young-ey’d cherubims. Shahefp’eare. 
Wheel; any rolling body; 
The orbs 
Of his fierce chariot roll’d as with the found 
Of torrent floods. Milton's P. L. 
Circle; line drawn round.—Does the foil learn aftion 
from the father? Yet all his activity is'but in the epicycle 
of a family : whereas afubjeft’s motion is in a larger orb. 
Holyday. —Circle defcribed byany of the mundane Spheres. 
.—Aftronomers, to folve the phenomena, framed to their 
conceit eccentricks and epicycles, and a wonderful en¬ 
gine of orbs, though no fuch'things were. Bacon. 
With fmiling afpeft you ferenelymove 
In your fifth orb, and” rule the realm of love. Dryden. 
Period ; revolution of time : 
Self-begot, felf-rais’d, 
By our own quickening pow'er, when fatal courfe 
Dad circled his full orb, the birth mature 
Of this our native heaven. Milton's P. L. 
Sphere of aftion: 
Will you again unknit 
This churlifli knot of all-abhorred war, 
And move in that obedient orb again, 
Where you did give a fair and natural light. Shakefpeare. 
It is applied by Milton to the eye, as being luminous and 
fpherical: 
A drop ferene hath quench’d their orbs, 
.Or dim fuffulion veil’d. Paradife Loft. 
ORB, in aftronomy, a fpherical body or fpace, con¬ 
tained under two fuperficies; the one concave, the other 
convex. The ancient aftronomers conceived the heavens 
as confifting of feveral vaft azure tranfparent orbs or 
ipheres, inclofed in one another; or vaft circles, which in 
their areas included the bodies of the planets; the radii of 
which were comprifed between the centre of the earth 
and the higheft point to. which the planets rife, fuppoiing 
the earth to be in the centre. 
The magnns erbis, or great orb, is that in which the 
fun is fuppofed to revolve; or, rather, it is that in which 
the earth makes its annual circuit. 
Ore, in aftrology, a certain fphere, or extent of light, 
which the aftrologers allow a planet beyond its centre. 
They fay, that, provided the afpeftsdo but fall within this 
orb, they have almoft the fame efteft as if they pointed 
direftly againft the centre of the planet. The orb of Sa¬ 
turn’s light they, make to be to degrees ; that of Jupiter, 
12 ; that of Mars, ; that of the Sun, 17 ; that of Ve¬ 
nus, 8 ; that of Mercury, 7 ; and that of the Moon, 12. 
Orb, in taftics, is the difpofing of a number of fol- 
diers in a circular form of defence. The orb has been 
thought of confequence enough to employ the attention 
of the famous marflral de Puyfegur in his Art of War, 
who prefers this pofition for a body of infantry in an open 
country, to refill cavalry, or even a fuperior force of in¬ 
fantry ; becaufe it is regular, and equally ftrong, and 
gives an enemy no reafon to expect better fuccefs by at¬ 
tacking one place than another. Caefar drew his whole 
army in this form, when he foughtagainft Labienus. The 
whole army of the Gauls were formed into an orb, un¬ 
der the command of Sabinus and Cotta, when fighting 
Vol. XVII, No. 1208. 
ORB 603 
againft the Romans. The orb was generally formed fix 
deep. James's Mil. Diet. 
To ORB, v.u. To round; to form into a circle.—Ourliap- 
pinefs may orb itfelf into a thoufand vagaries of glory 
and delight, and with a kind of eccentrical equation be 
(as it were) an invariable planet of joy and felicity. Mil- 
ton's RenJ'. of Ch. Gov. 
A golden axle did the work uphold, 
Gold was the beam, the wheels were orb'd with gold. 
A ddifon. 
ORB, a river of France, which rifes in the north part 
of the department of the Allier, eight miles north-welt 
of Lodeve, and runs into the Mediterranean eight miles 
below Beziers. 
OR'BA, a river which rifes in Genoa, and runs into 
the Bonnida three miles below Alexandria, in the det 
partment of Marengo. 
ORBAFS, a town of France, in the department of the 
Aifne: thirteen miles fouth-eaftof Chateau Thierry, and 
feven fouth of Dormans. 
ORBASSAN', a town of France in the department of 
the Po : fix miles fouth-weft of Turin. 
ORBA'TION, [ orbediu, Lat.] Privation of parents 
or children ; any privation ; poverty. Cocheram. 
OR'BE, a river of Swifl’erland, which rifes in Mount 
Jura, pafles the lake of Neuchatel and Bienne, and runs 
into the Aar three miles weft of Buren, in the canton of 
Berne. 
OR'BE, a town of Swiflerland, in the canton of Berne, 
fituated on the above river. According to antiquaries, 
this was the moft ancient town, and once the molt power¬ 
ful, of all Helvetia: it was called “Urba,” and was the 
capital of the Pagus Urbigenus ; but it has no remains 
of its ancient fplendour. Some antique fortifications, 
an old caftle, and a round tower, are probably works ot 
later times, when this country was divided into a num¬ 
ber of feudal fovereignties. The fituation ot the town 
is romantic; its fingle-arched bridge projedting over the 
Orbe, the wild feenery on the banks ol this river, the 
frequent catarafts, and the pifturefque view in the envi¬ 
rons, are all interefting objects. In this town is an in¬ 
firmary, formed by M. Venel, an eminent furgeon, tor 
the reception of perfons with diftorted limbs. Venel has 
contrived a machine to embrace the patients’ limbs when 
in bed, and which is conltrufted fo as to aft without dis¬ 
turbing their reft: this contrivance, it is laid, has per¬ 
formed many cures. Orbe is five miles fouth-weft ot 
Yverdun, and thirteen north of Laufanne. 
OR'BE, a town of Germany, celebrated for its falt- 
works : twenty-fix miles eaft of Frankfort on the Maine. 
OR'BEC, a town of France, in the department of the 
Calvados: thirty miles eaft-fouth-eaft of Caen, and ten 
fouth-eaft of Lifiqux. 
OR'BED, adj. Round; circular; orbicular.—Each fit 
his helm, gripe faft his orbed fltield. Milton. 
All thofe fayings will I ov.erfwear, 
And all thofe fwearings keep as true in foul, 
As doth that orbed con tinent the fire, 
That fevers day from night. Shuhefpeare's Tw. Night. 
OR'BIC, or Oreical, adj. Circular; fpherical: 
How the body of this orbic frame 
From tender infancy fo big became. Bacon. 
ORBIC'ULAR, adj. Spherical : 
He fliall monarchy with thee divide 
Of all things, parted by the empyreal bounds, 
His quadrature from thy orbicular world. Milton's P. L. 
Circular; approaching to circularity.—By a circle I un- 
derftand not here a perfeft geometrical circle, but an or¬ 
bicular figure, whofe length is equal to its breadth, and 
which as to fenfe may feem circular. Newton. 
ORBICULARLY, adv. Spherically ; circularly. 
8 O ORBIC'ULARNESS, 
