Sirianadj.n.
/ˈsɪrɪən/ Astronomy.
1. Of or belonging to Sirius.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the universe > star > kind of star > small star > [adjective] > Sirius
Sirian1591
1591 E. Spenser Prosopopoia in Complaints 5 And the hot Syrian Dog on him [sc. the sun] awayting,..Corrupted had th'ayre.
1622 F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Phylaster (new ed.) v. 65 The worthier beasts haue made their layars, and slep't Free from the Sirian Starre.
1685 Caryll in Dryden's Misc. Poems (1727) I. 306 Thrice happy Swains, guarded from Sirian Beams By sacred Springs.
1874 R. A. Proctor Expanse of Heaven 246 We must set all the Sirian planets circling much more rapidly than the corresponding members of the solar family.
1885 A. M. Clerke Pop. Hist. Astron. 417 A spectrum of the Sirian pattern.
2. Having a spectrum like that of Sirius.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the universe > star > kind of star > by spectrum > [adjective]
Wolf–Rayet1890
Sirian1892
1892 Photogr. Ann. II. 138 The former star..is more nearly allied to the Sirian stars in the distribution of energy in its spectrum.
1903 A. R. Wallace Man's Place in Universe vi. 130 Other astronomers call the first group ‘Sirian stars’, because Sirius though not the hottest is a characteristic type.
3. absol. as n. A star having a spectrum like that of Sirius.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the universe > star > kind of star > by spectrum > [noun]
Sirian1900
helium star1904
main sequence1925
1900 Edinb. Rev. Apr. 461 Helium or Orion stars merge imperceptibly into Sirians, Sirian into Solar.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1911; most recently modified version published online December 2020).
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adj.n.1591