orphan

(ôrˈfən)

1. a. A child whose parents are dead.
   b. A child who has been deprived of parental care and has not been adopted.
2. A young animal without a mother.
3. One that lacks support, supervision, or care: A lack of corporate interest has made the subsidiary an orphan.
4. An orphan technology or product.
5. a. A line of type beginning a new paragraph at the bottom of a column or page.
   b. A short line of type at the bottom of a paragraph, column, or page; a widow.

1. Deprived of parents.
2. Intended for orphans: an orphan home.
3. Lacking support, supervision, or care.
4. Not developed or marketed, especially on account of being commercially unprofitable: “an aggregation of every orphan technology at the Pentagon, stuff that's been around for years that nobody would buy” (Harper's).

Related Forms:

• orˈphan·hoodˌ noun