big

Elephants are big animals, and they eat a lot.

The big houses, and there are a good many of them, lie for the most part in what may be called by courtesy the valleys. You catch a glimpse of them sometimes at a little distance from the [railway] line,[…], with their court of farm and church and clustered village, in dignified seclusion.

1909, Archibald Marshall [pseudonym; Arthur Hammond Marshall], chapter III, in The Squire’s Daughter, New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead and Company, published 1919, →OCLC:

Investors face a quandary. Cash offers a return of virtually zero in many developed countries; government-bond yields may have risen in recent weeks but they are still unattractive. Equities have suffered two big bear markets since 2000 and are wobbling again. It is hardly surprising that pension funds, insurers and endowments are searching for new sources of return.

2013 July 6, “The rise of smart beta”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8843, page 68:

Gosh, she is big!

She was big with child.

The Dawn is over-caſt, the Morning low’rs,
And heavily in Clouds brings on the Day,
The great, th’ important Day; big with the Fate
Of Cato and of Rome.

1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 1:

(sometimes figurative) Large with young; pregnant; swelling; ready to give birth or produce.

(informal) Well-endowed; with a desired body part notably large.

I'm the shortest man on the team but in the gym shower everyone can see that I'm also the biggest.

I've been lifting weights for a full year now, but I'm finally getting big.

Having large muscles, especially visible ones such as the chest and arm muscles.

By midnight, however, the last light had fled / For even big people have then gone to bed[.]

1931, Robert L. May, Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer, Montgomery Ward (publisher), draft

Uh oh ... that looks like one of those things the big people don't want us to touch, Marvin!

1998 April 12, Tom Armstrong, Marvin (comic):

Kids should get help from big people if they want to use the kitchen.

We were just playing, and then some big kids came and chased us away.

She did it all on her own like a big girl.

I don't think so, if you're shouting at people across the playground at your big age.

2020, Candice Carty-Williams, Notting Hill Carnival:

(informal, slang, rare, of someone's age) Old, mature. Used to imply that someone is too old for something, or acting immaturely.

That's very big of you; thank you!

I tried to be the bigger person and just let it go, but I couldn't help myself.

So the bloke says, 'Fine, that's real big of you, much appreciated,' and off he goes with Big John back to Ferrari's.

(informal) Mature, conscientious, principled; generous. [with of ‘someone’]

What's so big about that? I do it all the time.

"I was dragged up at the workhouse school till I was twelve. Then I ran away and sold papers in the streets, and anything else that I could pick up a few coppers by—except steal. I never did that. I always made up my mind I'd be a big man some day, and—I'm glad I didn't steal."

1909, Archibald Marshall [pseudonym; Arthur Hammond Marshall], chapter II, in The Squire’s Daughter, New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead and Company, published 1919, →OCLC:

It proved a big miss as Hoilett produced a sublime finish into the top corner of the net from 20 yards after evading a couple of challenges in first-half stoppage time.

2011 October 29, Neil Johnston, “Norwich 3-3 Blackburn”, in BBC Sport:

That style is very big right now in Europe, especially among teenagers.

Big in Japan, alright, pay then I'll sleep by your side / Things are easy when you're big in Japan

1984, “Big in Japan”, in Forever Young, performed by Alphaville:

You are a big liar.  Why are you in such a big hurry?

Why is it whenever I'm in a big hurry he's always in a big slow?

2007 August 8, Tom Armstrong, Marvin (comic):

(informal) Used as an intensifier, especially of negative-valence nouns

big money

Big Tech, Big Steel ― large or influential tech or steel companies

Big Science ― science performed by large teams, and of large scope, with government or corporate funding

There were concerns about the ethics of big pharma.

Why are you so enthusiastic about putting cantaloupe in your smoothie? Did Big Melon buy you off? [humorous]

After the Airblade’s launch, a battle began to boil, pitting the dryer industry against the world’s most powerful hand-drying lobby: Big Towel.

2019 April 25, Samanth Subramanian, “Hand dryers v paper towels: the surprisingly dirty fight for the right to dry your hands”, in The Guardian:

“The C.E.O.s don’t want to be testifying. Even having this collective hearing creates a sense of quasi-guilt just because of who else has gotten called in like this — Big Pharma, Big Tobacco, Big Banks,” said Paul Gallant, a tech policy analyst at the investment firm Cowen. “That’s not a crowd they want to be associated with.”

2020 July 28, “Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google Prepare for Their ‘Big Tobacco Moment’”, in New York Times:

(of an industry or other field, or institution(s) therein; often capitalized; sometimes humorous) Operating on a large scale, especially if therefore having undue or sinister influence.

Neville is big on standing by his principles and he deserves plaudits for acknowledging he got his starting system wrong, reverting to 4-2-3-1 and introducing Kirby in the No 10 role.

2019 July 2, Louise Taylor, “Alex Morgan heads USA past England into Women’s World Cup final”, in The Guardian:

I'm not big on the idea, but if you want to go ahead with it, I won't stop you.

(informal) Enthusiastic (about). [with on ‘someone/something’]

en-adj

big (comparative bigger, superlative biggest)

bigger (comparative)
biggest (superlative)

talk to Ralph on the big white telephone

Inherited from Northern Middle English big, bigge (“powerful, strong”), possibly from a dialect of Old Norse. Ultimately perhaps a derivative of Proto-Germanic *bugja- (“swollen up, thick”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰew-, *bu- (“to swell”), in which case big would be related to bogey, bugbear, and bug.
Compare dialectal Norwegian bugge (“great man”), Low German Bögge, Boggelmann.


big

He's always talking big, but he never delivers.

He won big betting on the croquet championship.

Don't miss our November sale — it's your last chance to save big before Christmas!

I've always been big into sport, but I'm especially big into football.

In a large amount or to a large extent.
(informal) (modifying a preposition)

In a large amount or to a large extent.
(modifying a preposition)

You've got to think big to succeed at Amalgamated Plumbing.

'You've got to put it over big,' he was saying in a loud nasal voice.

1934, Agatha Christie, chapter 3, in Murder on the Orient Express, London: HarperCollins, published 2017, page 25:

He hit him big and the guy just crumpled.


big

You could throw out everything else, but I had the speed to split double-teams. Like, go at double-teams numerous times in a possession, on consecutive possessions where I'm testing your endurance, your bigs.

2019, Derrick Rose, Sam Smith, I'll Show You:

Someone or something that is large in stature

An important or powerful person; a celebrity; a big name.

In the Appalachian League, where Cal Ripken once played in Bluefield, W.Va., a ballplayer's chances of making it to the bigs are less than one in six.

2004 June 23, Michelle Boorstein, “Ballclub’s Pullout Caps Va. Town’s Run of Woes; Struggling Martinsville No Longer Celebrates Its Boys of Summer”, in Washington Post:

(in the plural) The big leagues, big time.

He was there the night of Cristoph's party. All the littles were assigned to their bigs. Ian and Christoph had rushed the same fraternity. When they became upperclassmen, they both ended up on the board.

2018, Kelly Ann Gonzales, Through an Opaque Window:

She added that the relationship between bigs and littles is "what each pair makes of it," and that a lot of the pairs often get dinner together and become close friends.

2019 April 1, Audrey Steinkamp, “Sororities pair new members with "bigs"”, in Yale Daily News:

Some traditions of the chapter include lineages with bigs and littles, receiving of paddles from a big, and a national stroll, Wolsch-Gallia said.

2022 September 27, Shreya Varrier, “Gamma Rho Lambda provides LGBTQIA+ community in greek life”, in Iowa State Daily:

(university slang) An initiated member of a sorority or fraternity who acts as a mentor to a new member (the little).

(BDSM, ABDL) The participant in ageplay who acts out the older role.


big

(transitive, archaic, UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) To inhabit; occupy.

(reflexive, archaic, UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) To locate oneself.

(transitive, archaic, UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) To build; erect; fashion.

(intransitive, archaic, UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) To dwell; have a dwelling.

en-verb

big (third-person singular simple present bigs, present participle bigging, simple past and past participle bigged)

bigs (present singular third-person)
bigging (participle present)
bigged (participle past)
bigged (past)

From Middle English biggen, byggen, from Old Norse byggja, byggva (“to build, dwell in, inhabit”), a secondary form of Old Norse búa (“to dwell”), related to Old English būan (“to dwell”). Cognate with Danish bygge, Swedish bygga.


big

One or more kinds of barley, especially six-rowed barley.

From Middle English byge, from Old Norse bygg (“barley, probably Hordeum vulgare, common barley”), from Proto-Germanic *bewwuz (“crop, barley”). Cognate with Old English bēow (“barley”).