<B>GI, </B>adjective, noun, pl. <B>GI's,</B> verb, <B>GI'd,</B> <B>GI'ing.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> <B>1. </B>of United States government issue. <BR> <I>Ex. GI shoes, GI socks.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(Informal.) conforming to regulations; standard. <BR> <I>Ex. GI uniforms.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>of, having to do with, or for a member, or former member, of the United States armed forces. <BR> <I>Ex. a GI loan, the GI Bill.</I> <DD><I>noun </I> (Informal.) <B>1. </B>an enlisted soldier in the United States Army; serviceman. <DD><B> 2. </B>a member or former member of any one of the armed services of the United States. <DD><I>v.t., v.i. </I> (U.S. Informal.) to clean, polish, or arrange in preparation for inspection by officers. </DL>
<A NAME="gi">
<B>GI</B> (no periods) or <B>G.I.,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>gastrointestinal. <DD><B> 2. </B>general issue. <DD><B> 3. </B>government issue. </DL>
<A NAME="gialloantico">
<B>giallo antico,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a rich yellow marble found among ruins in Italy, used as a decoration. </DL>
<A NAME="giant">
<B>giant, </B>noun, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>an imaginary being like a man but larger and more powerful. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) a person, animal, plant, or thing of unusual size, strength, importance, intellect, or other quality. <BR> <I>Ex. a circus giant, giants in the field of science.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>(Greek Mythology.) one of a race of imaginary beings having human form, but larger and more powerful than men. They were destroyed in a war with the gods. <DD><B> 4. </B>a large nozzle used in placer mining to direct powerful streams of water. <DD><I>adj. </I> <B>1. </B>like a giant; unusually big or strong; huge. <BR> <I>Ex. a giant potato.</I> (SYN) gigantic, monstrous. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) towering above others; distinguished; great. <DD><B> 3. </B>indicating a variety or kind of plant or animal decidedly larger than others. </DL>
<A NAME="giantanteater">
<B>giant anteater,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the ant bear, or great anteater. </DL>
<A NAME="giantarborvitae">
<B>giant arbor vitae,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a tree of western North America often reaching a height of 200 feet; red cedar. It belongs to the cypress family. <DD><B> 2. </B>its wood, often used for boats, poles, shingles, and siding. </DL>
<A NAME="giantbottlenosedwhale">
<B>giant bottle-nosed whale,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> any one of a variety of whales found in the North Pacific and Antarctic regions, having a snout that narrows into a round beak, a black or dark-gray color, and a maximum length of 42 feet and weight of 30 tons. </DL>
<A NAME="giantcactus">
<B>giant cactus,</B> =saguaro.</DL>
<A NAME="giantcane">
<B>giant cane,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a bamboolike grass, found in the southern United States. </DL>
<A NAME="giantcell">
<B>giant cell,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> an unusually large tissue or organ cell occurring naturally or associated with a pathological condition such as a tumor. </DL>
<A NAME="giantclam">
<B>giant clam,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a clam found on the coral reefs of the East Indies and off Australia, often weighing as much as 500 pounds and having shells 4 feet long. </DL>
<A NAME="giantcrab">
<B>giant crab,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a spider crab of Japanese waters with extremely long legs; giant spider crab. </DL>
<A NAME="giantdanio">
<B>giant danio,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a blue and yellow striped freshwater fish with orange-colored fins, often kept in aquariums. </DL>
<A NAME="giantesque">
<B>giantesque, </B>adjective. =gigantesque.</DL>
<A NAME="giantess">
<B>giantess, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a woman giant. </DL>
<A NAME="giantfennel">
<B>giant fennel,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a tall ornamental plant of the parsley family, grown for its finely divided leaves and umbels of yellow flowers. </DL>
<A NAME="giantfrog">
<B>giant frog,</B> =goliath frog.</DL>
<A NAME="giantfulmar">
<B>giant fulmar,</B> =giant petrel.</DL>
<A NAME="gianthornet">
<B>giant hornet,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a common hornet introduced in the United States from Europe. </DL>
<A NAME="gianthummer">
<B>giant hummer,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the largest known hummingbird, native to the Andes Mountains, growing to a length of 9 inches. </DL>
<A NAME="giantism">
<B>giantism, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the condition of being a giant. <DD><B> 2. </B>abnormally great bodily development; gigantism. <DD><B> 3. </B>the tendency or trend of business to concentrate into an increasingly smaller number of companies of increasingly larger size. </DL>
<A NAME="giantkangaroo">
<B>giant kangaroo,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a very large, grayish-brown kangaroo formerly common in Australia; great grey kangaroo. </DL>
<A NAME="giantkelp">
<B>giant kelp,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a large seaweed of the Pacific coast of North and South America, having stems which sometimes grow more than 200 feet long. Algin is obtained from this seaweed. </DL>
<A NAME="giantkiller">
<B>giant killer,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a person who opposes and defeats a powerful or important figure. </DL>
<A NAME="giantlike">
<B>giantlike, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> resembling a giant; gigantic. </DL>
<A NAME="giantpanda">
<B>giant panda,</B> <B>=panda </B>(def. 1).</DL>
<A NAME="giantpetrel">
<B>giant petrel,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a large white or brownish bird of southern seas, up to 3 feet in length, related to the shearwaters and fulmars. It resembles a small albatross. </DL>
<A NAME="giantpigweed">
<B>giant pigweed,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a variety of pigweed having red roots; redroot. It belongs to the amaranth family. </DL>
<A NAME="giantpowder">
<B>giant powder,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> an explosive resembling dynamite, used in blasting. </DL>
<A NAME="giantragweed">
<B>giant ragweed,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a kind of ragweed that sometimes grows 12 feet high; kinghead. Its pollen causes hay fever. </DL>
<A NAME="giantschnauzer">
<B>giant schnauzer,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the largest of the three schnauzer dog breeds, standing up to 25 inches high. It was developed in Bavaria for use in herding cattle. </DL>
<A NAME="giantsequoia">
<B>giant sequoia,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a very large evergreen tree of California; sequoia; big tree; sierra redwood. The giant sequoia belongs to the same family as the redwood and often grows to a height of over 300 feet. </DL>
<A NAME="giantslalom">
<B>giant slalom,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a slalom with a vertical descent of at least 1000 feet. </DL>
<A NAME="giantspidercrab">
<B>giant spider crab,</B> =giant crab.</DL>
<A NAME="giantsquid">
<B>giant squid,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a rarely seen squid, living in the ocean depths, that reaches a length of over fifty feet and is the largest known invertebrate animal. It is believed to be the basis for many of the sea serpent stories. </DL>
<A NAME="giantsquirrel">
<B>giant squirrel,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a large tree squirrel, growing up to 18 inches long, with a tail of the same length. It lives in India and Malaysia. </DL>
<A NAME="giantstag">
<B>giant stag,</B> =stag beetle.</DL>
<A NAME="giantstar">
<B>giant star,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a very bright star of vast size and low density, such as Arcturus. </DL>
<A NAME="giantswallowtail">
<B>giant swallowtail,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a large black-and-yellow butterfly of the southern United States, West Indies, and Central America, whose larvae feed on the leaves of citrus plants, prickly ash, Lombardy poplar, and rue. </DL>
<A NAME="gianttortoise">
<B>giant tortoise,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> any one of various large land turtles of certain islands in the Pacific Ocean. </DL>
<A NAME="giaour">
<B>giaour, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a Moslem term for a person who does not believe in the Moslem religion. </DL>
<A NAME="gib">
<B>gib</B> (1), noun, verb, <B>gibbed,</B> <B>gibbing.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a piece of metal or wood fitted in a machine to hold parts together or in place. <DD><B> 2. </B>a wedge that reduces the friction between parts of a machine that rub together. <DD><I>v.t. </I> to secure with a gib or gibs. </DL>
<A NAME="gib">
<B>gib</B> (2), noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a cat, especially a male cat. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Dialect.) a castrated cat. <DD><B> 3. </B>(Obsolete.) a familiar name given to a cat. </DL>
<A NAME="gib">
<B>Gib.,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> Gibraltar. </DL>
<A NAME="gibbed">
<B>gibbed, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> (of a cat) castrated. </DL>
<A NAME="gibber">
<B>gibber</B> (1), verb, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>v.i. </I> to chatter senselessly; talk in a confused, meaningless way. <BR> <I>Ex. The monkeys gibbered angrily at each other.</I> (SYN) babble, prattle. <DD><I>noun </I> senseless chattering; confused, meaningless talking; gibberish. </DL>
<A NAME="gibber">
<B>gibber</B> (2), noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (in Australia) a stone smoothed and rounded by the action of wind and water. </DL>
<A NAME="gibberellicacid">
<B>gibberellic acid,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a plant hormone that increases size and the rate of growth. It was originally derived from a fungus which damages Japanese rice plants. </DL>
<A NAME="gibberellin">
<B>gibberellin, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> any one of a group of hormones that are synthesized in the protoplasm of plants and that increase the rate and the amount of growth. Gibberellic acid is a gibberellin. </DL>
<B>gibbet, </B>noun, verb, <B>-beted,</B> <B>-beting.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>an upright post with a projecting arm at the top, from which the bodies of criminals were in former times hung after execution. <DD><B> 2. </B><B>=gallows.</B> <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to hang on a gibbet. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) to hold up to public scorn or ridicule. <BR> <I>Ex. Was he to be gibbeted in the press? (Anthony Trollope).</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>to put to death by hanging. </DL>
<B>gibbon, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the smallest kind of ape, having very long arms and no tail. Gibbons live in trees in southeastern Asia and the East Indies. </DL>
<B>gibbous, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>curved out; humped. <DD><B> 2. </B>so illuminated as to be convex on both margins. A gibbous moon is more than half full but less than full. <DD><B> 3. </B>humpbacked. adv. <B>gibbously.</B> noun <B>gibbousness.</B> </DL>
