Definition of "orient" []

• The countries of Asia, especially of eastern Asia. (noun)
• The luster characteristic of a pearl of high quality. (noun)
• A pearl having exceptional luster. (noun)
• Archaic The place on the horizon where the sun rises; the east. (noun)
• Having exceptional luster: orient gemstones. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "American commentators continue to object to orientate (used more frequently by the British), mainly because orient is shorter but also because the figurative use is outstripping the literal one."
• "And after Rabanus, these four be signified by the four parts of the world, by the orient, that is east, the apostles; by the south, the martyrs; by the north, the confessors; and by the west, the virgins."
• "Google: one would have to compare the verb in an unabmbiguous phrase; "orient" without any qualification will mostly be the noun."