  In this article we introduce a gluing orbit property, weaker than
specification, for both maps and flows. We prove that flows with the
$C^1$-robust gluing orbit property are uniformly hyperbolic and that every
uniformly hyperbolic flow satisfies the gluing orbit property. We also prove a
level-1 large deviations principle and a level-2 large deviations lower bound
for for semiflows with the gluing orbit property. As a consequence we establish
a level-1 large deviations principle for hyperbolic flows and every continuous
observable, and also a level-2 large deviations lower bound. Finally, since
many non-uniformly hyperbolic flows can be modeled as suspension flows we also
provide criteria for such flows to satisfy uniform and non-uniform versions of
the gluing orbit property.
