Other forms: orbits
An orbit is the endless circular path one body travels around another in space. In orbit, the earth's orbit, orbit the sun.
Nothing in orbit is beyond gravity — it is falling continuously and missing the ground, because it is moving sideways fast enough. Orbits are ellipses rather than circles. In anatomy, the orbit is the eye socket. Note that the Latin orbita means a wheel track.
1nounorbitThe path one body travels around another in space.
“The moon takes a month to complete its orbit around the Earth.”
2nounbonyThe bony socket of the eye.
“The punch fractured the orbit, and the swelling closed his eye completely.”
orbit is a path, or a socket.
Latin orbita means a wheel track or course, from orbis, a circle. Orb and orbital come from the same circle.
Latin
orbita — course, track, impression, mark
Middle English
orbite
English, today
orbit
Middle English orbite, orbita, from Latin orbita (“course, track, impression, mark”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA