supercarriern.
/ˈsuːpəˌkarɪə/, /ˈsjuːpəˌkarɪə/, U.S. /ˈsupərˌkɛriər/ 1. Originally: a very large freight vehicle. Later: a very big cargo ship (cf. sense 2).
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1918 Munic. Engin. Jan. 32 (advt.) Gramm-Bernstein Trucks..are super-carriers without an ounce of superfluous weight.
1967 Geogr. Rev. 57 64 An awkward problem in the era of supercarriers has been the water-depth and cargo-handling limitations at several of the ore-loading ports.
2006 Wired Nov. 70/1 When it comes to cargo ships, bigger is, well, never big enough. In July, Samsung Heavy Industries unleashed the Xin Los Angeles, the first of 300 planned supercarriers.
2. A very large aircraft carrier.
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1921 Hearings before Comm. Naval Affairs on Legislation Naval Establishment (U.S. House of Representatives, 66th Congr. 3rd Sess.) 700 The idea being a supercarrier, the very largest thing afloat.
1938 N.Y. Times 1 May 32/5 Britain's new super-carrier, the Ark Royal, which is starting her trials next week.
1969 D. Acheson Present at Creation xxii. 195 We urged sending a powerful naval force, including the newly commissioned supercarrier Franklin D. Roosevelt.
1978 Times 28 Jan. 4/8 Mr Brown was seeking to make optimum use of the Navy's power in face of the strengthened Soviet Navy, which is making supercarriers increasingly vulnerable.
2006 T. Anderson Riding Magic Carpet (2008) vi. 202 US Navy Supercarriers are probably the most high-profile name on the Panama Canal's no-can-do list.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2012; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1918