giant

giant in mythology, manlike being of great size and strength. The giant has been the symbol for the expression of certain recurring beliefs in the mythologies of all races. He is universally represented as being a brutish power of nature, lacking the stature of gods and the civilization and cunning of men. Among the myths of such different cultures as the Greeks, the Scandinavians, and the Native Americans of the Great Plains, giants were believed to be the first race of people that inhabited the earth. Two of the most familiar legends concerning giants are those of Jack the Giant Killer and David and Goliath.

giant an imaginary or mythical being of human form but superhuman size, often seen as at war with the gods; in Greek mythology, it was the giants who rebelled unsuccessfully against Zeus and the gods of Olympus, and in Scandinavian mythology, the frost giants were the particular enemies of Thor.

In astronomy, giant is the name for a star of relatively great size and luminosity compared to ordinary stars of the main sequence, and 10–100 times the diameter of the sun.
Giant Despair in Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, the giant who imprisons Christian and Hopeful in Doubting Castle.
giant-killer a person or team that defeats a seemingly much more powerful opponent (see also Jack the Giant-killer).
giant order an architectural order whose columns extend through more than one storey.
Giant's Causeway a geological formation of basalt columns, dating from the Tertiary period, on the north coast of Northern Ireland. It was once believed to be the end of a road made by a legendary giant to Staffa in the Inner Hebrides, where there is a similar formation.

See also frost giants, Jack the Giant-killer.

giant Before the arrival of the Israelites several races of giants were said to inhabit the land (Deut. 2). Goliath of Gath was apparently over 2.8 m. (9 feet) tall (1 Sam. 17: 4).