Orion

American  

[uh-rahy-uhn] / əˈraɪ ən /

noun

genitive

Orionis

1. Classical Mythology. a giant hunter who pursued the Pleiades, was eventually slain by Artemis, and was then placed in the sky as a constellation.

2. Astronomy. the Hunter, a constellation lying on the celestial equator between Canis Major and Taurus, containing the bright stars Betelgeuse and Rigel.

3. Military. a land-based U.S. Navy patrol plane with four turboprop engines, used to detect, track, and destroy enemy submarines and armed with missiles, torpedoes, mines, and depth bombs.

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Orion ¹ British  

/ əˈraɪən /

noun

1. Greek myth a Boeotian giant famed as a great hunter, who figures in several tales

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Orion ² British  

/ əˈraɪən /

noun

1. a conspicuous constellation near Canis Major containing two first magnitude stars (Betelgeuse and Rigel) and a distant bright emission nebula (the Orion Nebula ) associated with a system of giant molecular clouds and star formation

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Orion Scientific  

/ ō-rī′ən /

1. A constellation in the equatorial region of the celestial sphere, near Taurus and Gemini. Orion (the Hunter) contains the bright stars Betelgeuse and Rigel.

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Example Sentences

Its huge dishes form part of a private space communications network, which tracked the Orion spacecraft whenever the Moon climbed above the horizon, collecting and processing the data before sending it on to Nasa.

From BBC • Apr. 18, 2026

Despite those issues, the astronauts lauded Orion’s performance during the mission, with Wiseman saying that if Orion launched tomorrow a crew on board would be in great shape.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 16, 2026

Around Earth, the agency plans to test docking procedures between its Orion spacecraft and the lunar landers that will carry astronauts from the moon’s orbit down to its surface.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 12, 2026

That included adding an optical communications system onto the Orion spacecraft, a laser that transmitted to a ground station on Earth, sending streaming video in higher resolution.

From Barron's • Apr. 11, 2026

‘My friend dreamed of a hunter with glowing eyes. If Orion is blind -’ ‘He was blind,’ Hades corrected.

From "Blood of Olympus" by Rick Riordan