orrery

Noun

orrery (plural orreries)

1. A clockwork model of any given solar system.
   • In the mean time I have another trouble to give you, if you will oblige me in it; and that is to get me a sight of the famous Orrery, which I have heard you and others so often speak of; and which I think was made by Mr. Rowley, the famous Mathematical Instrument-Maker.1719, John Harris, Astronomical dialogues between a gentleman and a lady, page 151
   • To conclude; the Candor and Forgiveness of the Reader is here entreated for Errors or Imperfections he possibly may discover in the following pages, as they are the production of one, whose engagements in business will admit but a small portion of time for an endeavor to explain the most...1784, William Jones, The description and use of a new portable orrery: on a most simple construction
2. (figuratively) A conceptual model of someone's worldview.
   • This book is the result of fourteen thousand miles in the saddle and four years in the library. It describes the lives of the inhabitants of France – wherever possible, through their own eyes – and the exploration and colonization of their land by foreigners and natives, from the late seventeenth...2007, Graham Robb, “Itinerary”, in The Discovery of France: A Historical Geography, W.W. Norton and Company, →ISBN, page 16