From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishorbitor‧bit1 /ˈɔːbɪt $ ˈɔːr-/ ●○○ verb [intransitive, transitive] AROUND/ROUNDto travel in a curved path around a much larger object such as the Earth, the Sun etc The satellite orbits the Earth every 48 hours.→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
orbit• Now, thought Floyd, we are on our own, more than half-way to orbit.• Another insight has arisen out of studies of the logistics of deep-space missions that must return to orbit about Earth.• Women orbited about surfers on the beach; they clung to them in cars; they occupied their houses in loose liaisons.• It orbits closer to the fires of the Sun than any other planet, well inside the orbit of Venus.• Some years later Newton, using his newly discovered law of gravity, proved that all objects must orbit in elliptical paths.• The moons of Jupiter can be seen to orbit Jupiter and not the earth.• The Cassini mission currently under preparation is intended to orbit Saturn.• The satellite will orbit the Earth for the next 15 years.• The team confirmed the discovery of a planet orbiting the star 51 Pegasi.• Venus orbits the sun once every 225 Earth days.• On some planets orbiting these stellar furnaces skies beget clouds, oceans fill with water and, sometimes, life begins.orbitorbit2 ●○○ noun [countable] 1 AROUND/ROUNDthe curved path travelled by an object which is moving around another much larger object such as the Earth, the Sun etcorbit around the Moon’s orbit around the Earthin/into orbit The space shuttle is now in orbit. The telecommunications satellite went into orbit at the end of last year.2 POWER formal the area of power and influence of a person, an organization etcwithin the orbit of something countries within the orbit of the British CommonwealthExamples from the Corpus
orbit• A spacecraft passing through its perigee point is moving faster than an equivalent craft on a circular orbit of the same radius.• Diplomats want to draw the two republics into the West European orbit.• Once in orbit, you are precisely half way to having enough energy to escape from Earth.• Mariner 9, with its vastly superior vantage point in orbit around Mars, saw it all.• By the time that the third stages engine had shut down the Apollo astronauts were in orbit.• That proposal should send federal unions into orbit.• From the observed orbit of the visible star, one can determine the lowest possible mass of the unseen object.• This final property is useful because it simplifies the calculation of general relativistic orbits.• the Moon's orbit around the Earth• The orbit of the Leonid shower has been determined from both photographic and radar observations.in/into orbit• The body in orbit is thus slowed down slightly.• The system is not expected to leak while the craft is in orbit and the hydraulics are not in use.• Weight was slowly ebbing; the rockets were being throttled back as the ship eased itself into orbit.• The station, like any other object in orbit, lost energy through radiating it into space as infra-red electromagnetic radiation.• Once in orbit, you are precisely half way to having enough energy to escape from Earth.• Then the penalty paid in orbit matching with Mars and Phobos would be much smaller.• The programmes are beamed from Anik C, a telecommunications satellite that went into orbit at the end of last year.Origin orbit2 (1500-1600) Latin orbita “wheel-track”, probably from orbis; → ORB 