Etymology From Middle English orte, from Old English *oreta (“that which is left after eating”, literally “out-eat”); for more, see Old English or-, English eat. Cognate with Middle Low German orte (“refuse of food”), Middle Dutch ooraete, ooreete, Low German ort (“ort”), Middle High German urez, German Uräß and also German Ort (“quarter (of a thaler, etc)”). As the term for a coin, probably borrowed from the central European languages which used it: German Ort (“quarter (of a thaler)”), Polish ort (“coin”), etc.
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Plural normally A fragment; a scrap of leftover food; any remainder; a piece of refuse.
[…]the rich ate and drank freely, and accepted gout and apoplexy as things that ran mysteriously in respectable families, and the poor thought that the rich were entirely in the right of it to lead a jolly life; besides, their feasting caused a multiplication of orts, which were the heirlooms of the poor.1861, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter III, in Silas Marner: The Weaver of Raveloe, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC:
Come, Kinch, you have eaten all we left. Ay, I will serve you your orts and offals.1922, James Joyce, Ulysses:
1 more example
Peace, Grandam,– reclaim thy Ort. The Learnèd One has yet to sink quite that low.1997, Thomas Pynchon, Mason & Dixon:
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Historical A small coin, formerly used in central Europe.
ORT (French), the gross weight; garbage or refuse; a Norwegian coin of 24 skillings, also called a mark, and equal to 9 1/2 d.; an Hungarian coin, containing 12 kreutzers; in Poland, 5 orts make a rix-dollar; also a Swedish money equal to 2 farthings, sometimes called a runstick.1872, Peter Lund Simmonds, The Commercial Dictionary of Trade Products, Manufacturing and Technical Terms ..., page 268:
The coins of Sigismund III. range in value from […] the solidus, denarius, half gros, gros, 1 1/2 gros, 3 crucifer, 3 gros, 6 gros, quarter crown or thaler, (ort); half crown, crown, double crown, ducat, […] These coins are the solidus, 3 gros, 6 gros, ort (quarter thaler), thaler (crown); […]1915, The Numismatist: An Illustrated Monthly Magazine for Those Interested in Coins, Medals, and Paper Money, page 245:
Etymology From Middle English orte, from Old English *oreta (“that which is left after eating”, literally “out-eat”); for more, see Old English or-, English eat. Cognate with Middle Low German orte (“refuse of food”), Middle Dutch ooraete, ooreete, Low German ort (“ort”), Middle High German urez, German Uräß and also German Ort (“quarter (of a thaler, etc)”). As the term for a coin, probably borrowed from the central European languages which used it: German Ort (“quarter (of a thaler)”), Polish ort (“coin”), etc.