"big stick" meaning in English

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "big sticks",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "big stick (plural big sticks)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1997, Randall Hansis, The Latin Americans: Understanding Their Legacy, page 188",
          "text": "Wilson publicly rejected both the \"big stick diplomacy\" of Teddy Roosevelt and the \"dollar diplomacy\" of William Howard Taft; […]",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2002, Kenneth T. Broda-Bahm, Perspectives in Controversy, page 300",
          "text": "Too much debate theory is based on power rather than reason. Kritiks are used as big sticks to avoid one of the duties closely associated with debating — research.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2015, Falk Huettmann, Central American Biodiversity, page 34",
          "text": "It is difficult to deny that the American political culture of the Big Stick ideology (speak softly, and carry a big stick) is just another form of neo-imperialism; colonial power was reestablished in the new millennium.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Significant power to punish or coerce."
      ],
      "id": "en-big_stick-en-noun-ntClDNHF",
      "links": [
        [
          "Significant",
          "significant"
        ],
        [
          "power",
          "power"
        ],
        [
          "punish",
          "punish"
        ],
        [
          "coerce",
          "coerce"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(often attributive) Significant power to punish or coerce."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "carrot and stick"
        },
        {
          "word": "stick and carrot"
        },
        {
          "word": "speak softly and carry a big stick"
        },
        {
          "word": "talk softly and carry a big stick"
        },
        {
          "word": "walk softly and carry a big stick"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "attributive",
        "often"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "big stick"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "big sticks",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "big stick (plural big sticks)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "carrot and stick"
    },
    {
      "word": "stick and carrot"
    },
    {
      "word": "speak softly and carry a big stick"
    },
    {
      "word": "talk softly and carry a big stick"
    },
    {
      "word": "walk softly and carry a big stick"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English countable nouns",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English nouns",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1997, Randall Hansis, The Latin Americans: Understanding Their Legacy, page 188",
          "text": "Wilson publicly rejected both the \"big stick diplomacy\" of Teddy Roosevelt and the \"dollar diplomacy\" of William Howard Taft; […]",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2002, Kenneth T. Broda-Bahm, Perspectives in Controversy, page 300",
          "text": "Too much debate theory is based on power rather than reason. Kritiks are used as big sticks to avoid one of the duties closely associated with debating — research.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2015, Falk Huettmann, Central American Biodiversity, page 34",
          "text": "It is difficult to deny that the American political culture of the Big Stick ideology (speak softly, and carry a big stick) is just another form of neo-imperialism; colonial power was reestablished in the new millennium.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Significant power to punish or coerce."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "Significant",
          "significant"
        ],
        [
          "power",
          "power"
        ],
        [
          "punish",
          "punish"
        ],
        [
          "coerce",
          "coerce"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(often attributive) Significant power to punish or coerce."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "attributive",
        "often"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "big stick"
}