a. [Cf. Sp. subpolar.]
1. [SUB- 12 b.] Adjacent to the poles or polar sea.
1826. Kirby & Sp., Entomol., xlix. IV. 485. Beginning at 84° N. L. he [sc. Latreille] has seven Arctic ones, which he names polar, subpolar, superior, intermediate, supratropical, tropical, and equatorial.
2. [SUB- 1 a.] Beneath the pole of the heavens.
1876. C. H. Davis, Polaris Exp., iv. 96. The latitude of the southern entrance of Repulse Harbor, determined by a meridian subpolar observation.
1883. Proctor, Gt. Pyramid, iii. 154. The subpolar meridional passage of [Alpha Draconis].