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giant

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: Giant

English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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    From Middle English geaunt, geant, from Old French geant, gaiant (Modern French géant) from Vulgar Latin *gagās, gagant-, from Latin gigās, gigant-, from Ancient Greek γίγας (gígas, “giant”). Cognate to giga- (“1,000,000,000”). Largely Displaced native Old English ent, eoten, and þyrs. Compare Modern English ent (“giant tree-man”), ettin ("a giant"), and thurse ("a giant").

    Pronunciation

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    Noun

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    giant (plural giants)

    1. A mythical human or humanoid of very great size.
    2. (mythology, fantasy) Specifically:
      1. Any of the gigantes, the race of giants in the Greek mythology.
      2. An eoten or jotun.
        • 1961, Norma Lorre Goodrich, “Beowulf”, in The Medieval Myths, New York: The New American Library, page 21:
          The giants also had been outlawed along with Satan because they had fought against god.
    3. A very tall and large person.
      • 1966, James Workman, The Mad Emperor, Melbourne, Sydney: Scripts, page 65:
        "It's barbarous, Norsus." "It's Rome," said the giant flatly.
    4. A tall species of a particular animal or plant.
    6. (astronomy) A star that is considerably more luminous than a main sequence star of the same temperature.
      Synonym: giant star
      Hypernyms: star < celestial body
      Hyponyms: red giant, blue giant
      Coordinate terms: dwarf, dwarf star, subgiant, bright giant, supergiant, hypergiant
    7. (computing) An Ethernet packet that exceeds the medium's maximum packet size of 1,518 bytes.
    8. A very large organization.
      The retail giant is set to acquire two more struggling high-street chains.
      • 2020 May 20, “J&J to sell baby powder in UK despite stopping US sales”, in BBC‎[1], London: BBC, retrieved 22 May 2020:
        Healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson says it will continue to sell its talc-based Johnson's Baby Powder in the UK and the rest of the world, despite stopping sales in the US and Canada.
      • 2026 March 29, “Someone stole 413,793 KitKat bars and an entire truck in Europe”, in syracuse.com‎[2]:
        Swiss food giant Nestlé confirmed the theft, which disappeared while traveling from central Italy to Poland.
    9. A person of extraordinary strength or powers, bodily or intellectual.
      • 1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter 1, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC:
        But then I had the flintlock by me for protection. ¶ There were giants in the days when that gun was made; for surely no modern mortal could have held that mass of metal steady to his shoulder. The linen-press and a chest on the top of it formed, however, a very good gun-carriage; and, thus mounted, aim could be taken out of the window […].
      • 1988, Thomas Dolby, Airhead:
        she's not the intellectual giant
    10. (gymnastics) A maneuver involving a full rotation around an axis while fully extended.

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    See also: Thesaurus:giant

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    Adjective

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    giant (not comparable)

    1. Very large.
      • 2013 July 26, Nick Miroff, “Mexico gets a taste for eating insects …”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 7, page 32:
        The San Juan market is Mexico City's most famous deli of exotic meats, where an adventurous shopper can hunt down hard-to-find critters …. But the priciest items in the market aren't the armadillo steaks or even the bluefin tuna. That would be the frozen chicatanas – giant winged ants – at around $500 a kilo.

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