red dwarfn.
/ˌrɛd ˈdwɔːf/, U.S. /ˈˌrɛd ˈd(w)ɔrf/ Astronomy.
A star of a type that is much cooler, smaller, and less massive than the sun, and lies at the lower end of the main sequence. Cf. red giant n.Red dwarfs constitute the majority of stars, and are very long-lived.
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Barnard's star1916
Proxima Centauri1917
red dwarf1929
1916 Proc. National Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 2 17 Differing from the dwarf red stars most conspicuously in density, dimensions, and total brightness.
1925 Science 7 Aug. 123/1 The dull-red, dwarf stars were found to be dense, and to average one half the mass of the sun.]
1929 J. H. Jeans Universe around Us v. 293 The great gulf which lies between the red giants and the red dwarfs.
1940 G. Gamow Birth & Death of Sun vi. 128 These ‘normal stars’ range continuously from the comparatively cool and faint ‘red dwarfs’ up to the brilliantly blue and luminous ‘blue giants’.
1984 D. Duane My Enemy, my Ally iv. 44 They were..a weary association of cooling red dwarfs—little Jupiter-sized stars of types N and R, and here and there a sputtering S-type ‘carbon’ star.
2004 P. F. Hamilton Pandora's Star iv. 83 The rose-gold corona shimmering above the glowing lava could be seen from the pampas lands away to the south, as if a red dwarf had just set behind the horizon.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2009; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1929