orphan

plural orphans · alternative obsolete orphane

1. A person, especially a minor, both or (rarely) one of whose parents have died.

   Rudolf was the bold, bad Baron of traditional melodrama. Irene was young, as pretty as a picture, fresh from a music academy in England. He was the scion of an ancient noble family; she an orphan without money or friends.

   1956, Delano Ames, chapter 9, in Crime out of Mind

2. A person, especially a minor, whose parents have permanently abandoned them.
3. A young animal with no mother.
4. figurativelyAnything that is unsupported, as by its source, provider or caretaker, by reason of the supporter's demise or decision to abandon.
5. mediaA single line of type, beginning a paragraph, at the bottom of a column or page.

   Antonyms: widow

6. computingAny unreferenced object.

   An orphan isn't harmful in a language that has garbage collection, such as Java. However, reducing the number of orphans can be expected to improve code performance.

   2003, David D. Riley, The Object of Data Abstraction and Structures Using Java, page 234

alternative obsolete orphane

1. not comparableDeprived of parents (also orphaned).

   She is an orphan child.

2. broadlyfigurativelynot comparableRemaining after the removal of some form of support.

   With its government funding curtailed, the gun registry became an orphan program.

present singular third person orphans · participle present orphaning · participle past orphaned · past orphaned · first person past singular orphaned · archaic present second person singular orphanest · past second person singular orphaned · archaic past second person singular orphanedst · present singular third person orphans · archaic present singular third person orphaneth · past singular third person orphaned · past plural orphaned · past subjunctive orphaned · participle present orphaning · participle past orphaned · alternative obsolete orphane

1. transitiveTo deprive of parents (used almost exclusively in the passive).

   What do you do when you come across two orphaned polar bear cubs?

2. transitivecomputingTo make unavailable, as by removing the last remaining pointer or reference to.

   Removing categories orphans pages from the main category tree.

   1 more example

   When you removed that image tag, you orphaned the resized icon.