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ˈsupergiant, n. and a.
[super- 6 c.]
A. n.
a. A very large star that is even brighter than a giant, in many cases despite being relatively cool. (The dominant sense.)
1927H. N. Russell et al. Astronomy II. xxi. 725 Certain very bright stars, much more brilliant than the ordinary giants, are sometimes called super-giants. 1959Listener 26 Feb. 370/2 A very brilliant white super-giant such as Rigel. 1978Pasachoff & Kutner University Astron. xi. 294 The sun..is only one-millionth as luminous as the most brilliant of the red supergiants.
b. A supergiant galaxy (see sense b of the adj. below).
1975S. van den Bergh in A. Sandage et al. Stars & Stellar Systems IX. xii. 531 Assuming the brightest stars in the Sc giant galaxy M33 to be similar to those in the Sc supergiant M100.
B. adj.
1. Astr.
a. Designating a star that is a supergiant.
1930R. H. Baker Astronomy ix. 372 Super-giant stars are extraordinarily luminous giants. 1973Daily Tel. 29 Sept. 13/1 Under the best conditions it might be possible with glasses to glimpse the red supergiant star Antares in Scorpius. 1981Nature 15 Oct. 513/1 Red giant and super⁓giant stars have long been favourites of professional and amateur astronomers.
b. Of a galaxy: in the brightest of five luminosity classes.
1960S. van den Bergh in Astrophysical Jrnl. CXXXI. 216 The nomenclature for the luminosity classes has been chosen to agree with that used in the Yerkes system of stellar luminosity classification: (I) supergiant galaxy, (II) bright giant galaxy, (III) normal giant galaxy, (IV) subgiant galaxy, and (V) dwarf galaxy. 1978Sci. Amer. Nov. 103/1 It [sc. the Perseus cluster]..harbors a centrally located supergiant elliptical galaxy, which is a strong radio source and is surrounded by an X-ray-emitting cloud and a massive halo of stars.
2. gen. Extremely large.
1977Time 1 Aug. 37/1 In June a high-pressure air mass began building up just east of the Rockies. It stayed there, with some up-and-down movement of air, and slowly turned into a supergiant oven. 1981Sci. Amer. Nov. 66/2 Several supergiant natural-gas fields were found north of the Arctic Circle. |