▪ I. big, n. Obs. exc. dial.
Also bigg, bigge.
[Deriv. unknown. (Some refer it to big a.; some compare Cornish begel, Breton bégél the navel.)]
1. A teat. Now dial.
| 1573 Tusser Husb. xxxiii. (1878) 74 Lamb, bulchin, and pig, geld vnder the big. 1601 Holland Pliny I. 558 With bigs or dugs. 1705 Hickeringill Priest-Cr. ii. v. 48 If they had suckt in the Whimsie from the Bigg with their Mother's Milk. 1727 Bradley Fam. Dict., Bigg, a Pap or Teat in some Country Places. 1875 Lanc. Gloss. (E.D.S.) Big, a teat, where the ‘familiar’ was said to draw blood from the body of a witch. |
† 2. A boil.
Obs.| 1601 Holland Pliny II. 444 Good for the swelling piles and bigs. 1646 Gaule Cases Consc. 6 If you will not admit a big, or a boyl. |
▪ II. big, a. (
bɪg)
Forms: 4
byge, 4–6
byg(g,
bygge, 4–7
bigg(e, 3–
big.
[ME. big, bigg, bigge, first known in end of 13th c. in writers of Northumbria and north Lincolnshire: hence perh. of Norse origin; but its derivation is entirely unknown. (See Skeat: E. Müller's suggestion that it may be short for bigly a. is not favoured by the history of the senses; but the latter is itself uncertain, and the arrangement here may require change.)] A. † 1. a. Of living beings: Of great strength or power; strong, stout, mighty.
Obs. L.
validus,
potens.
| a 1300 Havelok 1774 Bernard stirt up, þat was ful big. 1352 Minot Poems vi. 29 To batail er thai baldly big. a 1375 Joseph Arim. 452 A-non tholomers men · woxen þe biggore; Sone beeren hem a-bac · and brouhten hem to grounde. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. vi. 216 Bolde beggeres and bigge þat mowe her bred biswynke. c 1400 Destr. Troy viii. 3971 A felle man in fight, fuerse on his enimys, And in batell full bigge. 1470–85 Malory Arthur (1816) II. 367 Within four or five days, sir Launcelot was big and strong again. 1530 Palsgr. 306/1 Bygge of strength, robuste. Bygge of power or myght, puissant. 1599 Shakes. Hen. V, iv. ii. 43 Bigge Mars seemes banqu'rout in their begger'd Hoast. |
† b. Powerful in resources, rich, wealthy. (
Cf. OE. r{iacu}ce.)
Obs. rare.
| 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 1460 Now er we bigg [v.r. riche], now er we bare. |
† 2. Of things: Strong, stout; stiff; forceful, violent, vehement. (This passes into the sense of ‘great,’
cf. ‘a great or violent storm.’)
Obs.| c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. B. 43 Ful bygge a boffet. Ibid. A. 374 Much þe bygger ȝet watz my mon. c 1400 Destr. Troy xv. 6548 Big was the batell vpon bothe haluys. 1477 Earl Rivers (Caxton) Dictes 84 He is of bygge & strong corage. 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §10 Bigge and styffe grounde, as cley, wolde be sowen with bigge stuffe, as beanes. 1574 T. Hill Weather vii, The redder the Rainbow appeareth, even so much the bigger doth the winde ensue. 1604 Shakes. Oth. iii. iii. 349 Farewell the bigge Warres That makes Ambition Vertue! |
3. a. Of great size, bulk, or extent; large. (The first appearance of this sense is doubtful. Quot. 1386 probably, 1490 possibly belong to 1.)
| [c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 548 Ful byg he was of brawn and eek of bones. 1490 Caxton Eneydos xv. 60 The grete cytees and bygge townes. 1494 Fabyan v. cxxxi. 114 Precious stones of a great bygnesse and value.] 1552 Huloet, Bigger parte or syde, bona pars. 1580 Baret Alv. B 648 The Epistle was as bigge or as great as a booke. 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, iii. ii. 277 Care I for..the stature, bulke, and bigge assemblance of a man? 1642 Milton Apol. Smect. Wks. (1851) 305 The biggest and the fattest Bishoprick. 1665 Boyle Occas. Refl. iv. iii. (1675) 185 For the loss of the biggest Fortune in the East. 1719 W. Wood Surv. Trade 220 In a Condition to have a bigger Trade. 1816 Byron Ch. Har. iii. xciii, The big rain comes dancing to the earth. 1859 Tennyson Enid 489 Apt at arms and big of bone. 1884 Jessop in 19th Cent. Mar. 389 Big ships, big hotels, big shops, big drums, big dinners. |
b. esp. Grown, large, tall, grown up.
| 1552 Huloet, Bygge to be, or waxe of stature lyke a man. 1607 Shakes. Cor. v. iii. 128 Ile run away Till I am bigger, but then Ile fight. 1653 Walton Angler 133 The Salmon..never grows big but in the Sea. 1871 M. Collins Mrq. & Merch. I. iv. 127 After some years of bullying by big girls..Amy..became a ‘big girl’ herself. |
c. ‘Having comparative bulk, greater or less.’
| 1547 Boorde Introd. Knowl. 198 Sardyns..a lytle fyshe as bydg [? bygg] as a pylcherd. 1570 Dee Math. Pref. 21 The vnskillfull man, would iudge them [Sun and Moon] a like bigge. 1592 Shakes. Rom. & Jul. i. iv. 55 She comes In shape no bigger than an Aggat stone. 1642 Milton Apol. Smect. Wks. (1851) 311 Seeming bigger then they are through the mist and vapour. 1753 Hogarth Anal. Beauty xi. 85 Statues..bigger than life. 1847 Tennyson Princ. iv. 7 No bigger than a glow-worm shone the tent. |
d. quasi-adv.| 1563 T. Hill Art Garden. (1593) 7 Made more fruitfull and plentifuller or bigger yeelding. 1658 Rowland Mouffet's Theat. Ins. 928 The Hornets..dig their nests bigger and bigger, as the family growes greater and greater. 1871 Morley Voltaire (1886) 48 Such enormities bulked big in the vision of the father. |
e. Fig.
phr. to get, grow, etc., too big for one's boots (breeches, etc.), to become conceited, put on airs.
| 1835 D. Crockett Tour to North 152 When a man gets too big for his breeches, I say Good-bye. 1879 [see boot n.3 1 c]. 1893 H. Maxwell Life of W. H. Smith I. ii. 57 Sometimes a young man, ‘too big for his boots’, would..sniff at being put in charge of a railway bookstall. 1905 H. G. Wells Kipps iii. ii. §1 He's getting too big for 'is britches. 1929 W. Faulkner Sound & Fury 270 You're getting a little too big for your pants. 1952 M. Laski Village xv, A young man who was getting too big for his boots. |
f. In the collocations
big brother,
big sister, elder (
cf. 3 b). Also
transf. (see
Big Brother below). Hence
big-brotherly adj.| 1851 Mayhew London Lab. I. 151/1 I've a big sister, and a brother and a sister younger than I am. 1863 Harper's Mag. Apr. 693/1 In a modern story, a big brother would have kicked the noble lord out of the front door. 1873 J. H. H. St. John Pakeha Rambles through Maori Lands viii. 149 Little mud volcanoes..aped the customs of their big brothers, and blobbed out their stenches with as much complacency as Tongariro. 1902 A. Bennett Anna of Five Towns i. 4 Your big sister isn't out of school yet? 1922 Joyce Ulysses 497 Big Brother up there, Mr. President, you hear what I done just been saying to you. 1937 H. G. Wells Star Begotten v. 84 If there is such a thing as a Martian..he's humanity's big brother. Ibid. viii. 157 Out of these cravings come all these impulses towards slavish subjection to Gods, Kings, leaders, heroes, bosses, mystical personifications like the People, My Country Right or Wrong, the Church, the Party, the Masses, the Proletariat. Our imaginations hang on to some such Big Brother idea almost to the end. 1947 Landfall I. 293 Lachlan was in splendid fettle..radiating big-brotherly goodwill. 1961 Listener 24 Aug. 293/3 For the Czechs and Slovaks..Russia..was the big sister to whom they looked..for deliverance from the Austrian and Hungarian oppressors. |
g. Big Brother Movement (see
quots.).
| 1925 Times 24 Oct. 9/5 Mr. Richard Linton, the originator of the ‘Big Brother’ Movement. Ibid., Mr. Linton had conceived the idea of providing ‘Big Brothers’ for boys who were emigrating to Australia. 1958 Oxf. Mail 14 Aug. 3/1 The Big Brother movement—a voluntary organisation founded in 1925 to assist the settlement of British boys in Australia. |
h. Of a letter: capital.
Cf. capital a. 5 b.
| 1874 Trollope Way we live Now I. i. 1 She spoke of herself..as a woman devoted to Literature, always spelling the word with a big L. 1894 Mrs. H. Ward Marcella III. iv. vi. 374 ‘You had spoken of {oqq}marriage{cqq}!’ she said. ‘Marriage in the abstract, with a big M.’ 1964 Times 11 Jan. 5/5 An attempt to impose Culture, with a big ‘C’, on the..people. |
4. Great with young, far advanced in pregnancy; ready to give birth. Const.
with, rarely
of.
| 1535 Coverdale Hos. xiii. 16 Their women bygg with childe. 1593 Donne Sat. iv, Like a big wife..ready to travail. 1611 Shakes. Cymb. i. i. 39 His gentle Lady Bigge of this Gentleman. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 7 ¶3 One of our female companions was big with child. |
5. transf. and
fig. Filled, full so as to be ready to burst out or bring forth; distended, swoln; teeming, ‘pregnant’
with.
| [1580 Baret Alv. B 648 Bigge vaines standing out.] 1598 Shakes. Merch. V. ii. viii. 44 His eye being big with teares. 1672 Dryden Conq. Granada ii. i, Shining Mountains big with Gold. 1713 Addison Cato i. i, Th' important day, big with the fate Of Cato and of Rome. 1790 Burke Fr. Rev. 79 The mind of this political preacher..big with some extraordinary design. 1876 Blackie Songs Relig. & Life 169 Fateful moments, Big with issue. |
6. Full in voice or sound, loud.
† to speak big or
talk big: to speak or talk loudly, or with full voice.
Obs. (
Cf. also 8 b.)
| 1581 J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 360 b, They..fashion theyr voyces bigge like olde men. 1591 Spenser Virgil's Gnat. ii, This Muse shall speak to thee In bigger notes. 1656 W. Dugard Gate Lat. Unl. §701 The voice of striplings, before they begin to speak bigg. 1709 Col. Records Penn. II. 501 It was necessary to talk bigg & sound aloud that usefull Language. 1859 Tennyson Enid 1390 [He] cried out with a big voice. |
7. a. Of high position or standing; great, important. (Colloquial or humorous, for
great.)
| 1577 Holinshed Chron. III. 1146/1 Such..vtterance, as pulled manie teares out of the eies of the biggest of them. 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. v. ii. 555, ‘I Pompey am, Pompey surnam'd the big.’ 1670 Penn Liberty Consc. Wks. I. 446 Let no Man therefore think himself too big to be admonish'd. 1879 Trollope Thackeray 50 Thackeray had become big enough to give a special éclat to any literary exploit. |
b. spec. In phrases with numerals, as
big three,
big four,
big five, designating a combination of three, etc., important things, persons, companies, nations, etc. (see
quots.); also
attrib. orig. U.S.| 1886 Outing (U.S.) Nov. 156/1 The trial races..proved beyond a doubt that the Mayflower was the queen of the ‘big four’. 1890 Wheeler & Cardwill W.A.W. p. vi, Big 4 Route..Best Modern Day Coaches on all Trains. 1922 Encycl. Brit. XXX. 397/2 The resources of the ‘big five’ [sc. banks] were..very substantial. 1924 Golfers' Guide to Happy Holidays 25 Golf's ‘Big Four’ are: Skill, Temperament, Experience, Luck. 1931 H. G. Wells Work, Wealth & Happiness of Mankind (1932) xii. 635 Both China and Japan are members of the League [of Nations] and Japan is one of the Big Five. The Council..has five permanent members (Britain, France, Germany, Italy, and Japan). 1932 Wodehouse Louder & Funnier 283 The Big Four at Scotland Yard..hold a round-up of the novelists. 1934 Ann. Reg. 1933 ii. 68 The ‘big five’ banks—Barclay's, Lloyds, the Midland, the National, and the Westminster. 1934 Webster, Big Three, Gr. Brit., the industrial alliance (formed 1919) of the miners' federation, the national transport workers' federation, and the national union of railwaymen. 1945 Ann. Reg. 1944 314 A further ‘Big Three’ meeting which could concert policy on common problems. 1946 News Chron. 8 July 1 The decisions laboriously reached..by the Big Four. 1968 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 17 Feb. 26 Toronto is already in the first line of orchestras after the big five in the United States. |
c. In designations of operatives, denoting the chief or senior men.
| 1910 Westm. Gaz. 9 Mar. 4/1 There are over 40,000 male cotton-piecers who earn from 8s. 6d. to 15s. 6d. as little-piecers (youths), and from 13s. 6d. to 22s. 6d. as big-piecers (young men). 1921 Dict. Occup. Terms (1927) §363 Big tenter. Ibid. §365 Big piecer..big spinner. |
8. a. Haughty, pompous, pretentious, boastful.
| 1570 R. Ascham Scholem. (1863) 43 To the meaner man..to seeme somewhat solemne, coye, big, and dangerous of looke. 1581 J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 495 b, Not dasht out of countenaunce for any bygge lookes. 1624 Massinger Renegado i. iii, For all your big words, get you further off. 1705 Stanhope Paraphr. I. 243 All such big Pretensions are false and groundless. 1862 Burton Bk. Hunter ii. 142 A mere platitude delivered in the most superb climax of big words. |
b. esp. in the
quasi-advb. use,
to talk big,
look big.
| 1596 Shakes. Tam. Shr. ii. ii. 230 Nay, looke not big, nor stampe, nor stare. 1685 Baxter Paraphr. Matt. xviii, How big soever he now look and talk. 1741 Middleton Cicero II. vii. 248 Pompey..always talked big to keep up their spirits. 1812 Examiner 5 Oct. 631/2 He heads his troops and looks big. 1841 [see talk v. 3 c]. 1865 Dickens Mut. Fr. II. xii. 274 You talk big, you do, but things look pretty black against yourself. |
9. colloq. (
orig. U.S.). Generous, magnanimous;
freq. ironical,
esp. in
phr. that's big of you.
| 1934 Webster s.v. big, He is big enough to overlook the slight; he can be depended upon to do the big thing. 1942 N. Coward Blithe Spirit i. ii. 39 Ruth. You can come in and say good night to me if you feel like it. Elvira. That's big of her, I must say. 1951 N. Marsh Opening Night iv. 92 You will be really generous won't you? Really big? You won't bring me into it, will you? 1959 H. Hamilton Answer in Negative vi. 82 That's big of you... I ought to lead a..sober life, and if I do you'll consent to be seen about with me. Thank you. |
10. slang (
orig. U.S.). In various
quasi-advb. uses.
a. With pronounced success,
esp. in
phr. to go (over) big (see
go v. 19 b and 87 h).
b. Feelingly; emotionally.
Cf. sense 8 b.
| 1912 J. London Let. 7 Sept. (1966) 363 That the book should sell big, I have all the confidence in the world. 1932 Wodehouse Hot Water xvii. 300, I see now why you took it so big when I mentioned that Soup Slattery was in the neighbourhood. 1936 M. Allingham Flowers for Judge i. 12 The ridiculous task of putting himself over big. 1958 I. Cross God Boy xiv. 110 My actually seeing God would put me in big with Father Gilligan. |
B. Comb., chiefly adjectives.
1. General:
a. parasynthetic, as (of size or bulk)
big-bearded,
big-bodied,
big-boned (also
big-bone obs.),
big-bosomed,
big-brained,
big-bulked,
big-eye(d),
big-hearted,
big-wombed; (of sound, etc.)
big-voiced,
big worded; also
big-heartedness,
big-wordiness n. b. quasi-advb. with
ppl. adjs., as
big-buzzing,
big-looking,
big-made,
big-sounding,
big-swollen.
| 1857 Hughes Tom Brown i. v, A great *big-bearded man. |
| 1611 Speed Theat. Gt. Brit. ix. (1614) 17/1 Many *bigge-bodied streames. |
| 1610 Rowlands Martin Mark-all 11 A stout sturdie and *bigbone knaue. |
| 1588 Shakes. Tit. A. iv. iii. 46 *Big-bon'd men, fram'd of the Cyclops size. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. iii, Handcuffs..too small for the wrists of a man so big-boned. |
| 1915 E. R. Lankester Divers. Nat. xxix. 270 We compare the actual mental accomplishments of the highest civilized races of man with those of *big-brained savages. |
| 1599 Marston Sco. Villanie ii. vi. 201 Ye *big-buzzing little-bodied Gnats. |
| 1885 G. Meredith Diana I. v. 118 He was a *big-chested fellow. |
| 1818 Amer. Jrnl. Sci. I. 79 The *big-eye herring (Clupea megalops) begin to be seen at the fish-market. 1885 J. S. Kingsley Standard Nat. Hist. III. 187 The *big-eyed scad,..the Trachurops crumenophthalmus of naturalists. 1957 T. Hughes Hawk in Rain 23 Now he rides the morning mist With a big-eyed hawk on his fist. |
| 1868 Trollope He Knew I. xiii. 106 Had he not been so manly and *big-hearted, he would have taken such pressure as a sign that she wished him to ask her again. 1914 D. H. Lawrence Let. 18 Dec. (1962) I. 300 You are so bighearted, we think of you with great affection. |
| 1872 W. F. Butler Great Lone Land (ed. 2) xvii. 282 After such a present no man can possibly entertain..a doubt upon the subject of the *big-heartedness of the donor. 1953 Scrutiny XIX. 143 Implying that you are a rather inferior creature if you do not share his manly big-heartedness. |
| 1634 Malory's Arthur (1816) I. 360 A young man, and a *big made. |
| 1874 F. Hall in N. Amer. Rev. CXIX. 328 The gratuitous *big-wordiness of Sir Thomas Browne and Henry More. |
2. a. Special combinations:
big bird,
big board,
big deal,
big drink,
big hand,
big idea,
big noise,
big pot,
big shot,
big talk,
big way (see the
ns.);
Big Apple, (
a) a ballroom dance for a group of people, popular in the 1930's; (
b)
slang, the city of New York;
big band, a large band of musicians playing jazz, dance-music or the like (as distinct from a small group or ‘combo’);
freq. attrib.;
big bang, (
a) a great or loud explosion;
spec. the explosion of a single compact mass, in which (according to one cosmological theory) the universe originated;
freq. attrib.; (
b)
Stock Exchange, a
colloq. name for the deregulation of the London Stock Exchange on 27 October 1986, when a number of complex changes in trading practices were put into effect simultaneously (see
quots.);
big-bellied a., having a large belly, corpulent; pregnant;
big bore, a rifle of large calibre
U.S.; also
attrib. or quasi-adj., having a large calibre, large-bore;
big boy colloq. (
orig. U.S.)
= big bug (see
bug n.1 1 b);
freq. used as an ironical form of address; also
transf.;
big buck(s) U.S. slang [buck
n.8]
= big money below; also
attrib.;
big bud, a disease of plants caused by the gall-mite;
big bug: see
bug n.1 1 b;
big business (
orig. U.S.), (those in control of) large mercantile organizations or transactions collectively; also
attrib.,
esp. big-business man;
big C colloq. euphem. (
orig. U.S.), cancer;
big city (
orig. U.S.), a large city;
esp. attrib. or quasi-adj., of, pertaining to, or characteristic of a large city;
big crunch Astr., a contraction of the universe to a singular state of extreme density and temperature (a hypothetical opposite of a
big bang);
Big Daddy, a paternal, dominating, or influential person; also
attrib.;
Big Dipper, (
a)
U.S. = dipper 5 b; (
b) (also with lower-case initials) a switchback at a place of amusement; also
fig.,
transf., and
attrib.;
big end, the end of the connecting-rod that encircles the crank-pin,
esp. in a motor-vehicle engine; also
attrib.;
cf. small end;
big-endian (also
Big-endian), in Swift's ‘Gulliver's Travels’, a person who believed that eggs should be broken at the larger end before they are eaten (
cf. little-endian s.v. little a. 14); hence allusively and as
adj.;
big figure U.S. slang (see
quot. 1848);
big game, large animals hunted as game;
freq. attrib.;
big gun: see
gun n. 7 b;
big-horn,
bighorn, a species of sheep inhabiting the Rocky Mountains;
big inch, also
attrib., (of) an oil or natural gas pipe-line 20 inches in diameter or larger;
big laurel U.S., (
a) a species of large magnolia,
M. grandiflora; (
b) the rose-bay
Rhododendron maximum;
big league U.S., a major American baseball league (hence
big leaguer); also
transf. and
attrib.;
(the) big lie [
cf. G.
grosse lüge], (an instance of) falsehood on a large scale,
spec. used in (Nazi) propaganda;
Big Mac U.S., (
a) a proprietary name for the largest in a range of hamburgers sold by McDonald's fast-food outlets; also
fig., the biggest or best of a number of related things; (
b) a nickname for the Municipal Assistance Corporation of New York City;
big man (see sense 7 a);
big money (
orig. U.S.), a large amount of money; high salary, large profit; also
attrib.;
big mouth (
orig. and chiefly
U.S.), a very talkative or boastful person; also, loquacity, boastful talk;
big-mouthed a., (
a) having a big mouth; (
b) loquacious or boastful (
cf. big mouth);
big name (
orig. U.S.), a famous or celebrated person,
esp. in the field of entertainment; also
attrib.;
big picture colloq., the main film in a cinema programme;
big science, term used of scientific and technological investigation that requires large resources;
big smoke, (
a)
Austral., an Aboriginal name for a town or city; (
b) London (see
smoke n. 1 d);
big stick (
orig. U.S.), (a display of) force or power; hence
big-sticker,
big-stickism;
big stuff, in various
slang uses (see
quots.);
big thing colloq., a promising affair, a good prospect; something magnanimous;
big ticket slang (
orig. U.S.), used
attrib. of merchandise that is highly priced or whose purchase would constitute a major expense;
esp. as
big-ticket item: see
ticket n.1 2 c;
big time (
orig. and chiefly
U.S.), an excellent time; hence (often
attrib.), (of) the best kind or the highest rank; so
big-timer, a top-ranker;
big top (
orig. U.S.), the main tent of a circus; the circus in general; also
transf.;
big wheel, (
a) a Ferris wheel; (
b)
slang (
orig. and chiefly
U.S.)
= big shot (see
shot n.1 22 c). Also in various collocations which have come to have specific force, as
big drum,
big game,
big toe;
big coat (
Sc.), an over-coat;
big daisy, the Ox-eye daisy, and similar flowers;
big dog, a watch dog; also
fig.;
big trees, the Sequoias or Wellingtonias of the Sierra Nevada, N. America. See also big-wig.
| 1928 N.Y. Times 11 Mar. viii. 6 The *big apple, New York City. 1937 Dancing Times Nov. 170/1 The rage of the winter is the *Big Apple and its related steps... Such steps as the Shag, the Flea Hop, the Strut, and the Walk, are combined with the new Big Apple notes. 1946 Mezzrow & Wolfe Really Blues (1957) ix. 170 As soon as we hit The Big Apple we'll ditch the buggy, and when the New York cops find it your insurance company will have to..ship it back to you. 1958 Publ. Amer. Dial. Soc. XXX. 48 This term [Apple = New York] gave its name to that defunct dance, the Big Apple. 1979 United States 1980/81 (Penguin Travel Guides) 114 Many Broadway-bound shows play Chicago before heading for the Big Apple. 1984 New Yorker 6 Aug. 21/1 Mr. Charles Gillett, the president of the New York Convention & Visitors Bureau, Inc., spoke..on..the value of the image of New York as ‘the Big Apple’... It was his organization that plucked the term from the jazz lingo of the twenties... The phrase in the jazz world, he said, had been ‘playing the Big Stem in the Big Apple’—the Big Stem being Broadway. (Another saying that we subsequently picked up from a dictionary of slang was ‘There are many apples on the tree, but New York is the big apple.’) |
| 1926 Melody Maker Feb. 35 [It] gives the lie to those who say that a ‘*big band’ is unwieldy. 1947 R. de Toledano Frontiers of Jazz xiii. 137 It remains the best big band jazz. 1955 Jazzbook 1955 6 He [sc. Duke Ellington] is the only man who has consistently created big band jazz of more than ephemeral value. Ibid. 7 In James Crawford the band possessed perhaps the finest of big band drummers. |
| 1950 F. Hoyle Nature of Universe v. 102 One [idea] was that the Universe started its life a finite time ago in a single huge explosion... This *big bang idea seemed to me to be unsatisfactory. 1957 Big bang [see bang n.1 2 c]. 1964 Listener 3 Sept. 340/2 The man who comes to astrophysics with a belief in after-life might be expected to have some thoughts about the ‘big-bang theory’. 1969 Observer (Colour Suppl.) 2 Feb. 16/1 A unique and inscrutable primeval atom, out of which all matter was born in some mysterious First Explosion—the famous ‘Big Bang’. Ibid. 16/4 A mysterious radio hiss, which may be the dying echoes of the original big bang. 1983 Financial Times 19 Sept. 16/8 It is argued that a ‘big bang’ approach, with all changes in Stock Exchange rules taking place on a single day.., would allow firms to make rational plans. 1984 Times 14 Feb. 19/7 The removal of the minimum commissions guaranteed to the 250-member firms of the [Stock] Exchange is now likely to happen in one go—by what is known as the ‘big bang’ approach. 1986 Sunday Express Mag. 26 Oct. 12/1 After the Big Bang tomorrow, the City will never be the same again... From tomorrow,..the distinction between brokers and jobbers disappears. |
| 1561 Stow Eng. Chron. an. 1087 (R.) [William Rufus] was..not of any great stature, though somewhat *big bellied. c 1660 Sea Crabb in Bp. Percy's Folio MS. Loose & Humorous Songs (1963) 99 This goodwiffe was bigbellyed, & with a lad. 1670 Brooks Wks. (1867) VI. 174 A big-bellied mercy, a mercy that has many thousand mercies in the womb of it. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 127 ¶6 Waddling up and down like big-bellied Women. 1794 Burns Wks. III. 299 A big-bellied bottle's a heav'n of care. 1812 J. Sinclair Syst. Husb. Scot. i. 357 When they [sc. calves] are allowed to drink much water at an early age, they will become big-bellied. 1916 R. Graves Goliath & David 14 Big-bellied, spectacled, crop-haired. |
| 1843 ‘R. Carlton’ New Purchase ii. xxxvi. 31, I had a powerful *big bore to fix for a feller going out West. 1960 Farmer & Stockbreeder 23 Feb. 45/2 Big-bore, short-stroke engine—high power at low piston speeds. |
| 1918 A. P. McKishnie Willow xx. 279 ‘Hold on, *Big Boy,’ he called. 1925 Fraser & Gibbons Soldier & Sailor Words 22 Big boys, large guns. ‘Heavies’. 1929 W. R. Burnett Little Caesar i. i. 12 The Big Boy can't fix murder. He can fix anything but murder. 1939 J. B. Priestley Let People Sing iv. 94 ‘Am I right, sirs?’ ‘You sure are, big boy.’ 1940 Times Weekly 27 Nov. 10 We had one of the really ‘big boys’ on board—the brother of the one I dropped at Munich. |
| 1970 in Dict. Amer. Regional Eng. I. 406/2 He's in the *big buck bracket. 1972 E. A. Butler (title) The big buck and the new business breed. 1975 Forbes (N.Y.) 1 July 26 They could afford big bucks for advertising and theater rentals and still come out way ahead. 1986 Los Angeles Times 19 May v. 1/3 Neither government was behind it, nor were there any sponsors, angels, captains of commerce or industry, no big bucks or big francs flowing from anywhere or anybody. |
| 1900 G. Nicholson Dict. Gardening Suppl. 274/1 Currant-Bud Mite (Phytoptus ribis), or Black Currant Gall Mite, is responsible for the condition of the bushes known as ‘*Big Bud’. 1958 Spectator 10 Jan. 58/2 Mites cause the swelling of blackcurrant buds at this time of year and give rise to what is commonly called Big Bud, a destructive thing resulting in a poor crop. |
| 1905 McClure's Mag. 49 The stench of the vice graft did not repel, it attracted *big business. 1912 J. H. Moore Ethics & Educ. vi. 32 These are big-business times. 1913 T. Roosevelt Autobiogr. (Appendix A) 615 We demand that big business give the people a square deal; in return we must insist that when any one engaged in big business honestly endeavors to do right he shall himself be given a square deal. 1922 J. M. Murry Things we Are 23 Mr. Thomson, whom nature had modelled after the physical pattern of the dour American big-business man. 1930 G. B. Shaw Apple Cart i. 22 The political encroachments of big business. |
| 1968 J. D. MacDonald Girl in Plain Brown Wrapper iv. 35, I..might look almost as well this year too, except for a little problem known familiarly as *Big C. A year ago they thought they took it all out, but then they used cobalt [etc.]. 1979 Time 29 Jan. 69 John Wayne..accepted the news with true grit. ‘I've licked the Big C before,’ he said. 1984 H. D. Weaver Confronting Big C ii. 22 He is no longer afraid; he knows it is possible to conquer ‘the big C’. |
| 1909 ‘O. Henry’ Options 110 The *big city is like a mother's knee to many who have strayed far and found the roads rough beneath their uncertain feet. 1929 D. Hammett Red Harvest xxiii. 235 A big-city paper or two are sending in special correspondents. 1960 New Left Rev. Mar.–Apr. 45/1 A big-city airport. |
| 1981 J. Ellis in J. H. Mulvey Nature of Matter vi. 143 If..it does not contain a sufficient density of matter to cause it to collapse back on itself into a *Big Crunch then the Universe will continue to expand forever. 1984 Barrow & Silk Left Hand of Creation 234 Closed universe, a model of the universe that is finite in total volume and in total age. It evolves from a ‘big bang’ to a point of maximum expansion before contracting back to a ‘big crunch’ of high density and temperature. |
| 1752 in Scots Mag. (1753) June 290/2 The said Allan Breck had no *big coat on. |
| [1955 T. Williams Cat on Hot Tin Roof (1966) p. xi, Characters of the play... *Big Daddy, [etc.].] 1958 Spectator 29 Aug. 278/2 Mr. Francis Williams, journalism's Big Daddy. 1959 N. Mailer Advt. for Myself (1961) 348 The Fuehrer's tone will be heard in the Twenty-First Century as the Big Daddy voice of all virile and velvety broadcasters. |
| 1869 ‘Mark Twain’ Innoc. Abr. 19 Constellations that never associate with the ‘*Big Dipper’. 1936 J. L. Hodson Our Two Englands vi. 111 [They] spend a pound a day on the Big Dipper when on holiday at Blackpool. 1957 R. Hoggart Uses of Literacy v. 127 Thus one arrives at the ‘big-dipper’ style of singing, the style used by working-class entertainers... Here the voice takes enormous lifts and dips to fill out the lines of a lush emotional journey. 1960 Spectator 21 Oct. 601 It has been a week on the big dipper—plunging below the surface of farce into tragedy and then jerking back up again. |
| 1833 J. S. Jones Green Mt. Boy i. iii, For the rale genuine grammar larnin' I am a six-horse team and a *big dog under the wagon. 1846 J. J. Hooper Adv. Simon Suggs x. 126 Pointing to the reverend gentleman who..was the ‘big dog of the tanyard’. 1884 Gd. Words June 400/1 He was ‘big-dog’ to a disorderly house. |
| 1906 W. P. Adams Motor-Car Mechanism 160 *Big end, the lower end of an engine connecting-rod enlarged to carry the big end bearing or brasses which surround the crank pin. 1909 Westm. Gaz. 4 Feb. 4/2 The big-end bearings can be examined and adjusted. |
| 1726 Swift Gulliver iv, The books of the *Big-endians have been long forbidden. Ibid. I. i. vii. 120 All the People of that Empire, who would not immediately forsake the Big-Endian Heresy. 1726 Mrs. Howard Let. Nov. in Swift's Wks. (1824) XVII. 81 Many disputes have arisen here, whether the big-endians, and lesser-endians, ever differed in opinion about the breaking of eggs, when they were to be either buttered or poached? 1832 Carlyle in Fraser's Mag. V. 254 Its dome is but a foolish Big-endian or Little-endian chip of an egg-shell compared with that star-fretted Dome. 1888 Big-endian [see little-endian s.v. little a. 14]. 1905 Westm. Gaz. 29 Aug. 10/2 The quarrel between the Big-Endians and the Little-Endians promises to be a merry one. 1961 Y. Olsson Syntax Eng. Verb ii. 18 Though what Jonathan Swift might have called the Small-Endian view seems to be in a certain vogue, the procedure here followed is Big-Endian. |
| 1831 Boston Transcript 28 Oct. 2/2 The opponents of the existing militia system..are ‘going it’ at New York ‘on the *big figure’. 1848 Bartlett Dict. Amer., Big figure. To do things on the big figure, means to do them on a large scale. |
| 1864 Spectator No. 1874. 627 Versed in wood craft and the destruction of ‘*big game.’ 1890 Ld. Lugard Diary 10 Nov. (1959) I. 362 Endless big-game tracks led westwards now. 1905 Daily Chron. 25 May 5/2 President Roosevelt's love of big-game hunting. 1966 J. Bingham Double Agent ii. 32 In the old days, a jilted man might go big game shooting. |
| 1805 W. Clark Jrnl. 4 Apr. in Lewis & Clark Exped. (1905) I. vii. 240 The horns of the mountain ram, or *big horn. 1849 W. Irving Astoria 240 The bighorn is so named from its horns; which are of a great size, and twisted like those of a ram. 1926 Chambers's Jrnl. July 449/1 It had been the regular route traversed by large droves of bighorn. |
| 1943 Times 19 May 3/5 An oil line known as the ‘*Big Inch’, which was laid from Texas oilfields to Illinois..was broken to-day. 1960 Times Rev. Industry Dec. 79/2 The construction of two big-inch pipelines from the North Sea ports of Wilhelmshaven and Rotterdam... The first pipeline..is 28 in. dia... The second..is 24 in. dia. |
| 1810 F. A. Michaux Hist. des Arbres I. 32 The large magnolia..[or] *Big laurel. 1853 D. H. Strother Blackwater Chron. vii. 89 This dale is girt round..by a broad belt of the Rhododendron—commonly called the big laurel out here. 1899 Chicago Daily News 10 May 6/1 One of Chicago's crack players new in the big league. 1946 Ibid. 31 Aug. 6/6 Let's train our men to be big leaguers if they are to compete, as our representatives, in the big leagues! 1947 Time 14 Apr. 66/3 They announced a prize book contest baited with enough cash to make big-league authors sit up and take notice. |
| 1910 Amer. Mag. May 6/1 College players stop eight out of nine grounders and *big leaguers stop 15 out of 16. |
| 1946 ‘G. Orwell’ in Polemic Jan. 7 The friends of totalitarianism in this country usually tend to argue that since absolute truth is not attainable, a *big lie is no worse than a little lie. 1948 News (San Francisco) 30 July 2/5 This is a continuation of the Nazi theory of the ‘big lie’, expounded by Hitler and Goebbels, that the bigger the lie and the more frequently it is told the more people who would accept it. 1951 in Amer. Speech XXVI. 293/2 Gloomy Washington prophets are forecasting a period of ‘the big lie’, of the furtive informer... They lump the whole under the term McCarthyism. |
| 1970 Forbes (N.Y.) 1 Nov. 21/3 It [sc. McDonald's] tested big burgers—today's big seller—for years before adopting the *Big Mac. 1974 Official Gaz. (U.S. Patent Office) 5 Nov. 48 McDonald's Corporation... Filed Apr. 30, 1973. Big Mac. For Sandwich... First use at least as early as 1957. 1974 Florida FL Reporter XIII. 52/3 It would be a lot easier for mainstream society if the annoying non-Standard speakers would learn to speak mainstream too—the verbal Big Mac. 1975 Times 12 June 18/4 Now that ‘Big Mac’, the new state agency nicknamed after a hamburger, has swung into action, there seems little chance that New York will really go bankrupt. 1977 Rolling Stone 21 Apr. 15/4 It's possible now for a lot of them to live a normal Big Mac existence, but the middle class is the great nebbish class of the world. 1981 P. Carey Bliss v. 198 David Joy arrived home with his two Big Macs at eight o'clock. 1985 N.Y. Times 2 July a18/4 When in July 1975, Big MAC, as it was called, offered its first bond issue. |
| 1874 Trollope Way we live Now II. liii. 14 A moment's private conversation with the *big man. 1886 Lantern 3 Nov. 3/1 Who is supposed to be a big man in the boot and shoe trade. 1936 Amer. Speech XI. 118/2 Big man, the brains behind a dope ring; the one who seldom takes the rap... The big man wholesales dope to peddlers. |
| 1880 in Amer. Speech (1942) XVII. 65/2 ‘*Big money’ to be made in cattle and sheep. 1907 Westm. Gaz. 16 Aug. 2/1 The skilled artisan has always been..well paid in Belfast. He makes what he calls ‘big money’. 1950 J. Dempsey Championship Fighting 10 My five big-money bouts. |
| 1889 Barrère & Leland Dict. Slang I. 113/2 *Big mouth (American), a very common expression applied to any man who talks too much. 1890 Farmer Slang I. 190/2 Big mouth (American), excessive talkativeness; loquacity. 1938 M. K. Rawlings Yearling xxiii. 288 Now mister impudent big-mouth. 1940 R. Chandler Farewell, My Lovely xxxiii. 154, I didn't have any idea of getting tough in the first place, except just the routine big mouth. 1951 E. Coxhead One Green Bottle i. 9 He was a big mouth. He picked up strangers..and told them the story of his life. |
| 1642 Milton Apol. Smect. Wks. 1738 I. 125 It was *big-mouth'd, he says; no marvel, if it were fram'd as the Voice of three Kingdoms. 1914 C. Mackenzie Sinister Street II. iv. iv. 930 Fancy going off..with that big-mouthed five-to-two. 1919 Masefield Reynard the Fox 27 Bill, that big-mouthed smiler. |
| 1926 Amer. Cinematographer Dec. 5 A ‘*big name’ actor. 1932 Q. D. Leavis Fiction & Reading Public i. ii. 32 Nash's in search of ‘big names’ ran the last Forsyte epic as a serial. 1942 Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §144/7 Famous, big-name, blown to the skies, [etc.]. 1949 L. Feather Inside Be-Bop vi. 43 A big-name policy at the Roost. |
| 1927 Melody Maker Sept. 933/3 A score specially composed for each ‘*big picture’. 1961 A. M. Weinberg in Science 21 July 161/1 She [sc. history] will find in the monuments of *Big Science—the huge rockets, the high-energy accelerators, the high-flux research reactors—symbols of our time. |
| 1848 H. W. Haygarth Bush Life Australia i. 6 As he gradually leaves behind him the ‘*big smoke’ (as the aborigines picturesquely call the town). 1917 E. Miller Diary 24 Apr. in Camps, Tramps & Trenches (1939) x. 61 My first day in ‘the Big Smoke’. 1968 Tel. (Brisbane) 14 Aug. 54/1 He falls for a beautiful blonde who wants him to stay in the Big Smoke—but city life has no appeal. |
| [1900 T. Roosevelt Let. 26 Jan. (1951) II. 1141, I have always been fond of the West African proverb: ‘Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.’] 1904 Springfield Weekly Republ. 26 Aug. 1 Happily the revolution in Paraguay is too far down in South America to arouse the ‘*big stick’ in Washington. 1912 Kipling Diversity of Creatures (1917) 171 The secret of power..is not the big stick. It's the liftable stick. 1956 A. Wilson Anglo-Saxon Attitudes i. iii. 65 Elvira's on the side of the big stick in these things. |
| 1905 Springfield Weekly Republ. 9 June 1 A *big-sticker after Mr. Roosevelt's own heart. 1926 Spectator 2 Jan. 19/1 There is nothing in the British record to compare with Roosevelt's robust *big-stickism in the Alaska boundary case. |
| 1925 Fraser & Gibbons Soldier & Sailor Words 22 *Big stuff, heavy shells. 1927 R. W. Hinds in Flynn's Weekly 19 Feb. 9/2 ‘Bagler's big stuff.’ I got his slang. Big stuff meant that Bagler was a crook who conducted extensive deals. 1942 Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §20/4 Something important..big stuff. Ibid. §388/1 Big stuff..persons of importance. 1948 Partridge Dict. Forces' Slang 15 Big stuff. In the Navy, a battleship or an aircraft carrier; or collectively.—In the Army, heavy guns, and the exploding shells from them. Heavy vehicles such as tanks. 1953 R. Lehmann Echoing Grove 36, I played the lead, and it was big stuff; supporting roles are less rewarding. |
| 1859 G. W. Matsell Vocabulum, *Big thing, a rich booty. 1862 Campfire Songster 48 (D.A.), There's a big thing coming, boys. 1935 Times 13 Feb. 7/7 He appealed to the Minister of Labour, who had no responsibility for the muddle and who had done the big thing, to go on doing the big thing in his constructive proposals. |
| 1956 Business Week 8 Sept. 27/2 Charge account credit seems more liberal than ever— except for *big-ticket items such as appliances. 1967 Economist 7 Jan. 64/1 ‘Big ticket’ items, carpets, bedding, furniture and other consumer durables, which did so very badly before Christmas are selling quite well at cut prices. 1975 U.S. News & World Rep. 14 Apr. 17 Very few plan to use the rebate as part of a down payment on a big-ticket purchase. 1985 Investors Chron. 8–14 Nov. 11/1 The edge-of-town DIY chains..rely on big-ticket leisure purchases. |
| 1863 O. W. Norton Army Lett. (1903) 183 The brigade was flying round, getting into line, drums beating and a *big time generally. Ibid. 190 We had big times that night for fires. 1910 R. Grau Business Man in Amusement World 36 The ‘big time’, as such theatres as Percy Williams' and William Morris' are termed. 1914 in Amer. Speech (1957) XXXII. 209 Here are huge ledgers that tell the past movements and future bookings of every good act and every artist deemed worthy of ‘big time’. Ibid., They buy and sell for all ‘big time’ acts and all ‘big time’ theaters. 1921 Collier's 25 June 3/3 Like as not I will have to go back pitchin' baseball in some bush league on the account I am too old for the Big Time. 1935 M. M. Atwater Murder in Midsummer xxviii. 261 Of the big-time news-hawks who had gathered in Keedora, only Matter remained. 1936 Amer. Speech XI. 117 Big-time gangsters, racketeers, and the criminal aristocrats do not use narcotics. 1951 J. B. Priestley Fest. Farbridge 52 From now on it's Big Time stuff. 1966 Crescendo Feb. 9 (Advt.), Scores of drummers who hit the big time play Premier. |
| 1932 E. Wallace When Gangs came to London xxiii. 233 Only the *big timers—I'll interpret that, gentlemen: it means the more important armies—would be employed. 1959 F. Usher Death in Error vii. 99 Do you know what sort of criminals he associates with?.. Big-timers? |
| 1895 McClure's Mag. V. 49/2 Having settled where the ‘*big top’ will stand, the location of the other eleven tents is determined with mathematical precision. 1946 Univ. of Chicago Mag. Dec. 9/2 The fact is that he was not really a good showman under the academic big-top. 1962 Radio Times 2 Aug. 37/1 Whatever type of act you prefer under the Big Top, whether it's clowns, jugglers or acrobats. |
| 1853 Placer Times (S.F.) 27 June 2/2 The *Big Tree at the World's Fair. 1865 J. M. Hutchings Scenes Calif. i. 13 The starting-point for the Big-Tree Grove. Ibid. iv. 77 A sketching tour to the Big Trees. 1883 Harper's Mag. Jan. 193/1 The ‘big trees’ proper are confined to certain groves on the western flank of the Sierra Nevada. |
| 1908 Chambers's Jrnl. Mar. 271/1 Sensational amusements invariably associated with exhibitions, such as the water-chute, *big-wheel, [etc.]. 1942 Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §388/2 Person of importance or self-importance..big cog or wheel. 1952 Auden Nones 57 They met some big wheels, and do not Let you forget it. 1958 C. Fremlin Hours before Dawn xx. 168 The Big Wheel, which rose with strange dignity into the quiet sky. 1958 M. Dickens Man Overboard i. 17 He was evidently quite a big wheel at the studio. |
b. In collocations used
attrib.| 1909 Westm. Gaz. 29 Jan. 2/2 Whether we be ‘big-Navy’ men or ‘little-Navy’ men. Ibid. 27 Apr. 11/2 Big-print headlines in newspapers. 1909 Daily Chron. 7 May 1/4 The big-fleet party in Vienna. 1930 Economist 13 Dec. 1110/1 To ascertain the view of manufacturers with regard to big-scale amalgamations. 1947 ‘G. Orwell’ English People 30 The big-circulation newspapers. 1961 Sunday Express 2 Apr. 18/6 The film..is not a big-budget one. 1962 ‘J. Le Carré’ Murder of Quality v. 62 Smiley was fascinated by Fielding..by his whole big-screen style. |
Add:
[3.] i. In
colloq. phr. you're a big boy (or girl) now, etc.: a
usu. mock-serious reminder that the subject is no longer a child, and should act (or be treated) like an adult.
orig. U.S.| 1896 W. Cather in Home Monthly Dec. 10 She is a big girl now, you know, and came out last winter. 1934 Z. N. Hurston Jonah's Gourd Vine i. 25 Youse uh big boy now and you am gwine take offa 'im and swaller all his filth lak you been doin' here of late. 1938 M. Allingham Fashion in Shrouds xviii. 318 ‘I'm getting a big girl now,’ she said. ‘You can mention it in front of me.’ 1961 ‘B. Wells’ Day Earth caught Fire vii. 114 ‘I wouldn't say they were sex-mad, but they'd like to be...’ Jeannie said with a gay smile: ‘I'm a big girl now.’ 1964 ‘C. E. Maine’ Never let Up xv. 148 I'm a big boy now and I can put myself to bed. So why don't you do as I say. 1986 J. Savarin Naja ii. 39 Rhiannon's a big girl now and is quite capable of looking after herself. |
▸
a. Modifying an agent noun: that is much in the habit of performing the action specified; sometimes with the implication of excess, as
big drinker,
big eater,
big spender, etc.
| 1659 J. Bunyan Doctr. Law & Grace Unfolded To Reader sig. A3v, Reckon thy self therefore, I say, the biggest Sinner in the World, and be persuaded, that there is none worse than thy self. 1708 E. Smith Serm. Preached Before Lord Mayor 17 The biggest sinners will be brought down. 1799 P. Spindleshanks Battle Two Taylors 6, I aint so big de sinner As you, who no say grace at dinner. 1831 Documents Senate of State of N.-Y. 1831 14 Formerly extra rations were set apart for certain big eaters. 1898 J. T. Bealby & E. H. Hearn tr. S. Hedin Through Asia I. xx. 242, I have been set agape by stories of monstrous big eaters..but what are all these things as compared with a Chinese dinner of state, with its six-and-forty courses? 1902 Daily Chron. 25 Jan. 7/2 Thus we may learn which of them, in the opinion of his fellows, is..the slouchiest, the biggest fusser, the ‘grouchiest’. 1938 E. Monroe Mediterranean in Polit. iv. ii. 159 The big spenders—the rich Levantines from Egypt and Syria—are all going to Rhodes. 1979 W. B. Taylor Drinking, Homicide & Rebellion in Colonial Mexican Villages ii. 65 Drinking could become a symbolic contest... The big drinker could gain a psychic victory without ever touching his adversary. 1985 J. Irving Cider House Rules vi. 225 She was not a big reader, Edna. 2001 Sunday Herald (Glasgow) 12 Aug. (Seven Days section) 5/6 I'm not a big partier, though I'm not a shut-in either. |
b. Modifying the designation of a person: eminently entitled to the designation, especially remarkable for the quality indicated.
| ? 1780 Comical Sayings Pady from Cork 7 Faith, he was not such a big fool as die yet. 1817M. Edgeworth Rose, Thistle, & Shamrock iii. iv in Comic Dramas 376, I bought it?—Oh, who put that in your Scotch brains?—Whoever it was, was a big liar. 1827 J. Wight More Mornings at Bow St. 196, I would be a big fool, yer worship..to take me enemy's thumb into me own mouth for him to serve me that trick! 1841 J. T. J. Hewlett Parish Clerk I. 237 You're the biggest scoundrel I ever met with—I shall only pay you ten shillings in the pound. 1898 Cambrian Aug. 377/1 Shoni, he was big believer In the goodness of ‘home-brewed’, And he always had his sleever, Tho' you never see him ‘slewed’. 1951 Amer. Q. 3 247 Edward Steichen recalls [in an interview, 14 October 1950] that ‘Stieglitz was a big admirer of George Bernard Shaw’. 1975 Newsweek (Nexis) 16 June 60 I'm a big fan of people like Kristofferson and Mac Davis. 1988 J. Kincaid Small Place 68 The people who go into running the government were not always such big thieves. 2001 Evening Standard (Nexis) 15 Aug. 31 I've always been a big fan of supermarket loyalty cards. |
▸
colloq. (
orig. U.S.).
big on and variants: especially disposed or prone to; particularly enthusiastic about, keen on, or attentive to. Freq. in
to be (also go) big on, to be preoccupied with, to consider important; to relish or enjoy greatly.
| 1864 ‘E. Kirke’ Among Pines xiv. 250 One on 'em..—a little feller but terrible big on braggin'—he packed up his bag one night, and left. 1877F. W. Benteen Let. 13 Nov. in J. M. Carroll Camp Talk (1983) 100 ‘Morpheus’ is the fellow big on sleep. 1939 C. Morley Kitty Foyle xxviii. 280 Mark is all hopped up about persecutions and refugees in Europe, and natural enough, but I can't go very big on Causes that's a long way away. 1968 Punch 4 Sept. 338/2 The Daily Mirror has always been big on letters. 1977 Rolling Stone 13 Jan. 22/2 The service was performed by a judge since neither church would have been big on Slick's divorce, living with other men and child out of wedlock. 1993 Taste Aug.–Sept. 22/3 The Americans are big on putting their favourite cookies and candies in their ice cream. 2000 J. Goodwin Danny Boy vii. 155 We were as close as marrers can be, but touching wasn't something we were big on. |
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big beat n. (also with capital initials) music with a prominent beat, or (also in
pl.) the beat itself;
spec. (a) chiefly
U.S. rock and roll;
(b) chiefly
Brit. a type of dance music, first popular in the mid to late 1990s, incorporating elements of rock, funk, and house music, and featuring a particularly prominent and powerful rhythm.
| 1958D. Macdonald in New Yorker 29 Nov. 91/1 The *Big Beat is here to stay. 1966 D. Myrus (title) Ballads, Blues and the Big Beat. 1976 Monitor (McAllen, Texas) 21 Oct. 5 b/3 The Caribbean has given us gentle calypso and Trinidad's brash steel bands,..the spicy latin ‘salsa’ of Puerto Rico and the whimsical chants and big beat of Jamaican reggae. 1985J. Mitchell Tax Free (song) in Compl. Poems & Lyrics (1997) 241 Tonight I'm going dancing With the drag queens and punks Big beat deliver me from this sanctimonious skunk. 1991 J. A. Jackson (title) Big beat heat: Alan Freed and the early years of rock & roll. 1996 Times (Nexis) 19 Mar. Does it not make more sense for the Quo to target the likes of TV audiences on the Des O'Connor Show..and leave the jocks at 1 FM to ‘large it’ with their big beat dance music and Brit pop of the moment. 1997 Straight No Chaser Spring 60/1 On the fringes, the places where people dabble with our music, we seem to be losing out to big beats and nu-house. 2000 Mirror (Electronic ed.) 6 Nov. Norman Cook doesn't disappoint with this gritty new album in which he moves on from big beat to a more dance-orientated sound. |
▸
big cat n. any of the larger members of the cat family (
Felidae), such as a lion, tiger, or leopard.
| 1886 Good Words June 378/1, I might have gone back to..the creatures who split the bones which we find in Kent's Cavern, and were the contemporaries of the cave bears and the *big cats who then lived in these islands. 1893 T. Roosevelt Wilderness Hunter xiv. 283 They [sc. bears] are by no means such true night-lovers as the big cats and the wolves. 1961 J. Carew Last Barbarian 39 There was something of a big cat about her, a sinuous grace. 1998 Independent on Sunday 25 Oct. (Travel section) 5/2 Though Zanzibar long ago lost its big cats to the colonial gamesmen it still boasts deadly snakes. |
▸
big E n.<big
adj. + the initial letter of
elbow n., after
to give (a person) the elbow at
elbow n. Additions
Brit. colloq. (with
the) a personal rejection or rebuff,
esp. insensitively or unceremoniously conveyed; the abrupt breaking off of a (romantic) relationship;
freq. in
to give (a person) the big E = to give (a person) the elbow at
elbow n. Additions.
| 1973 D. Clement & I. La Frenais Whatever happened to Likely Lads? (BBC TV camera script) (2nd Ser.) Episode 3. 47 We had a steak sandwich, and a bottle of fizzy wine. And then, when it was time for her to show her gratitude in no uncertain way, the *big E. (He gestures with his elbow.). 1982 A. Barr & P. York Official Sloane Ranger Handbk. 158/2 ‘She gave me the big E,’ Used by young Sloanes to mean she told me to go away. 1990 C. Brayfield Prince xvii. 425 So what's the big news?.. Your sister giving Nicky the big E, or what? 2001 News of World (Nexis) 15 July Meanwhile dizzy hairdresser Helen, 23, is still unaware that Big G..has already given her the Big E after being humiliated by her flirty on-screen antics with car designer Paul. |
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Big Easy n.popularized by the title of James Conaway's novel
The Big Easy (1970) and the 1986
U.S. film of the same name, and
perh. originally coined by Conaway
U.S. slang the city of New Orleans, Louisiana (
usu. with
the).
| 1970 J. Conaway Big Easy i. 43 Storyville, spawning ground of Dixieland and voodoo and other amenities of the *Big Easy. 1985 New Orleans Business (Nexis) 14 Mar. i. 24 a, New Orleanians worried about Big Easy's place in the pantheon of chic eatery, drinkery and bauble-buying need lose no sleep. 2006 Vanity Fair June 16 Thanks to meltdowns, infighting, and miscalculations, the Big Easy never had a chance. |
▸
big enchilada n. (also with capital initials) compare earlier
whole enchilada n. at
whole adj. and
n. and
adv. Additions
slang (chiefly
N. Amer.). (chiefly with
the) a person with (the greatest) power, influence, or importance in a specified context; the person in command, the boss; (later also)
= big one n. 2.
Popularized in the context of the
U.S. Senate investigation of the Watergate scandal, owing to its use by John Ehrlichman in a transcribed conversation in reference to the
U.S. Attorney General John Mitchell; see
quot. 1973.
| 1973 in Submission Recorded Presidential Conversat. (1974) 347 [Haldeman] He is as high up as they've got. [Ehrlichman] He's the *big enchilada. 1987 Los Angeles Times (Electronic ed.) 20 Oct. 3 This is the Fall Classic, my friend, this is the big enchilada,..this is for the whole ball of wax, all the marbles. 1996 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 19 Dec. 82/1 The Cucinello presepe is considered the Big Enchilada of the Certosa collection. 2001 Sunday Herald (Glasgow) 30 Sept. (Seven Days section) 9/5 He nurtures his status as the big enchilada of foreign affairs. |
▸
big fish n. colloq. an important or influential person or (
occas.) thing; (also)
spec. a ringleader;
big fish in a small pond and variants, a person regarded as important only parochially, or whose influence does not extend beyond the limited scope of a small community;
cf. fish n.1 2a.
| 1827 Amer. Farmer 22 June 111/3 Monopoly now is the word of the day, The *big fish are driving us small ones away. 1830G. Flagg Let. 2 Aug. in B. Lawrence & N. Branz Flagg Corr. (1986) 41 This money of course goes into the general land office and from thence to feed the big fish at Washington at the rate of 8 dollars pr. day. 1864J. Hay Jrnl. 30 June in T. Dennett Lincoln & Civil War (1939) xvii. 198, I wish you to be there when they [sc. the Senate] meet. It is a big fish. Mr Chase has resigned. 1871 J. R. Green Let. 10 Mar. (1901) 290 As for the C.'s.., they are big fish in a little pond, but one has seen plenty of them shrink..when they have been plunged into the London ‘big water’. 1923 E. M. Earle Turkey, Great Powers, & Bagdad Railway x. 260 Thus were Lord Inchcape's powerful interests further propitiated! Thus did the Lynch Brothers cease to be big fish in a small pond, to become small fish in a big lake. 1931 J. Wilstach Under Cover Man 2 The result [of the police raid] had been a lot of minnows, not a big fish in the collection. 1977 Washington Post (Nexis) 18 Sept. (Mag. section) 18, I wanted to be a big fish in a little pond... At 245 I'd be the biggest tight end in the Ivy League. 2000 News (Karachi) 25 Apr. 1/2 Moinuddin Haider said the anti-smuggling campaign will be launched in all four provinces simultaneously and initially it would be against the big fish. |
▸
big government n. (also with capital initials)
Polit. (chiefly
N. Amer.) government (
esp. central or federal government) that is excessively bureaucratic and interventionist, and intrudes into the lives of its citizens.
| 1925D. Wilhelm in Forum Nov. 744 We have organized widely, and with astonishing thoroughness, to put pressures upon our members of Congress which make them the virtual slaves, not of their respective constituencies, but of groups vastly greater in power. These pressures..account largely for the affliction of *Big Government. 1942 Amer. Polit. Sci. Rev. 36 7 We shall have ‘big government’ functioning in a big way—more power wielded by public authority than ever before.., a more colossal mechanism of controls, a more numerous bureaucracy, [etc.]. 1974 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 25 Nov. 7/1 The Big Blue Machine label attached to both the Government and the Conservative Party..calls to mind things that people don't like about politics and big Government—slickness, arrogance, indifference. 1990 D. Kavanagh Thatcherism & Brit. Politics (ed. 2) ix. 247 Her frequent denunciations of high levels of taxation and public expenditure, of big government, and of the diminution of individual freedom and choice are passionate and deeply felt. 2000 Wall St. Jrnl. 16 May a1/1 Opposition to ‘big government’ has led Congress and the White House to push control for welfare policy to states and localities. |
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big hair n. colloq. (
orig. U.S.) long and voluminous hair; (in later use)
spec. a bouffant hairstyle.
| 1957 C. S. Belshaw Great Village xiv. 196 The healer exercised his powers and claimed to see three men with ‘*big hair’, that is bush villagers. 1978 Washington Post (Nexis) 8 May b1, I think I'm more like a cartoon character, this big hair flapping all over, big hips, big bosom. It's a gimmick. 1991 Guardian 13 May 34/5, I expressed my concern that I didn't want a power hairdo, that bouffant meringue known affectionately as Big Hair. 2001 Vogue (U.S. ed.) Mar. 122/2 Extremely big hair (watch out for the comeback of big hair) colored a flaming reddish gold. |
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big mo n. (also with capital initial(s)) <big
adj. +
mo- (in
momentum n.); compare
mo n.7 U.S. (
orig. and chiefly
Polit.) apparently irreversible momentum,
esp. during a political campaign.
| 1980 Economist 26 Jan. 32/3 Saying that ‘the *big mo’ (meaning political momentum) was on his side, Mr Bush predicted he would be ‘unstoppable’ if he wins next month in New Hampshire. 1987 Spectator 23 May 6/1 Who's got the big Mo? This..is always the question in American elections. Momentum is all. 1993 Chicago Tribune 4 Jan. c 1/2 We've got some Big Mo going here, said Mike Baly III, president of the American Gas Association. Natural gas use rose by about 5 percent in 1992 from a year earlier, the sixth annual increase in a row. 2001 Nation 23 Apr. 6/1 McCain and Feingold seem to have Big Mo: soft money could now face a total ban. |
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big pharma n. (also with capital initials) major, multinational pharmaceutical companies collectively (
usu. with
sing. concord).
| 1994 Business Week 26 Sept. 71/3 It's more efficient and increases flexibility for *big pharma to contract out more research instead of carry a huge R&D infrastructure. 2003 Independent 3 Sept. 16/5 Its paymasters in Big Pharma..would suffer eroded profits. |
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big school n. Brit. (a) slang (in a public school) a large room or hall used for holding school assemblies, etc.;
(b) colloq. (
orig. Children's slang) a school which provides the next level of a child's education,
esp. a secondary school.
| 1857 T. Hughes Tom Brown's School Days i. v. 110 The whole school of three hundred boys swept into the *big school to answer to their names. 1960 C. Day Lewis Buried Day vi. 129 My name was never inscribed on the University Honours Board in the Big School. 1987 Guardian (Nexis) 23 May She has been much taken-up with her start at big school, and apart from asking me to wear a skirt to Speech Day has paid little attention. 2001 J. Paisley Not for Glory 276 Just startit at the big school, did ye no? |
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big sleep n. (also with capital initials) popularized by the title of Raymond Chandler's novel
The Big Sleep (1939) and the 1946 film adaptation of the same name
U.S. slang (
usu. with
the) death.
| 1939 R. Chandler Big Sleep xxxii. 277 And in a little while he too, like Rusty Regan, would be sleeping the *big sleep. 1946 E. O'Neill Iceman Cometh ii. 116 All the grandstand foolosopher bunk and the waiting for the Big Sleep stuff is a pipe dream. You'll say to yourself, I'm just an old man who is scared of life, but even more scared of dying. 1997 Courier-Jrnl. (Louisville, Kentucky) 10 Aug. d6/1 As thousands of faithful descend upon Memphis this week to mark the 20th anniversary of the King's Big Sleep, they can take solace from this: Elvis may be dead, but his ability to kick-start controversy is very much alive. 2000D. Chase in Sopranos Scriptbk. (2001) (3rd Ser.) Episode 2. 226 He has ‘miles to go before he sleeps’... The sleep of death. The Big sleep. He's talking about his own death. |
▪ III. big, bigg, v. Obs. exc. north. dial. (
bɪg)
Forms: 3–5
bigg(en, (3
biggenn), 4
big(en, 4–6
byg(e, 5
bygg(en, 4–
big,
bigg.
[ME. biggen, bygge, a. ON. byggja to inhabit, dwell in, build, cognate with OE. b{uacu}ian to dwell, inhabit, cultivate, from same root as be.] † 1. trans. To dwell in, inhabit.
Obs.| c 1300 E.E. Psalter xxxvi[i]. 3 (Mätz.) Big þe erþe [Vulg. inhabita terram] and best fede in his riches. |
† 2. intr. To dwell; to have an abode.
Obs.| c 1200 Ormin 12734 Lef maȝȝstre, whære biggesst tu. 1330 R. Brunne Chron. 339 Biside his broþer to bigge. Ibid. 330 To biggen in pays. |
† 3. refl. (and
pass.). To place or locate oneself, take up one's position.
Obs.| c 1352 Minot Poems vii. (1795) 35 Bigges him right by ȝowre side. c 1400 Destr. Troy v. 1598 With barburs bigget in bourders of the stretes. c 1485 Digby Myst. (1882) iii. 2024 Þou hast byggyd þe here among spynys. |
4. trans. To build. Still in
Sc. and
north. dial.| a 1300 E.E. Psalter lxviii. 36 God..sal..bigge þe cites of Jude. c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. B. 1666 I haf bigged Babiloyne. 1375 Barbour Bruce v. 453 To byg the castell vp agane. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 35 Byggyn, or bildyn, edifico. 1458 Test. Ebor. II. 225 The chapell..bigged and made be the said sir Thomas. 1609 Skene Reg. Maj. 83 Gif ane man..hes there bigged houses and biggings. 1646 Row Hist. Kirk (1842) 12 Down with those crow nests, else the crowes will big in them againe! 1869 Waugh Lanc. Sk. 205 in Lanc. Gloss., They bigged yon new barn. 1884 U.P. Mag. Apr. 156 Bigging the fold dyke. |
5. transf. and
fig. To erect, rear, pile up.
| a 1300 E.E. Psalter xxvii[i]. 5 In þair hand-werkes þam fordo, And noght big þam þou salt als so. c 1430 Lydg. Min. Poems (1840) 264 Thy place is biggyd above the sterrys cleer. 1513 Douglas æneis iv. xii. 73 This funerall fire with thir handis biggit I. 1663 Spalding Troub. Chas. I, (1829) 14 Seats of deals, for the purpose bigged of three degrees. 1716 in Wodrow Corr. (1843) II. 134 A young lad..was bigging corn in the wain. |
† 6. To construct, form, fashion.
Obs.| c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. C. 124 Hit may not be þat he is blynde Þat bigged vche yȝe. 1430 Lydg. Chron. Troy ii. x, So ryche coloures byggen I ne may. |
▪ IV. big variant of
bigg, barley.