orphan: Meaning and Definition of

or•phan

1. a child who has lost both parents through death, or, less commonly, one parent.
2. a young animal that has been deserted by or has lost its mother.
3. a person or thing that is without protective affiliation, sponsorship, etc.: The committee is an orphan of the previous administration.
1. (esp. in word processing) the first line of a paragraph when it appears alone at the bottom of a page.
2. widow (def. 3b).

1. bereft of parents.
2. of or for orphans: an orphan home.
3. not authorized, supported, or funded; not part of a system; isolated; abandoned: an orphan research project.
4. lacking a commercial sponsor, an employer, etc.: orphan workers.

1. to deprive of parents or a parent through death: He was orphaned at the age of four.
2. to deprive of commercial sponsorship, an employer, etc.: The recession has orphaned many experienced workers.