English

Adjective

big ‎(comparative bigger, superlative biggest)

1. Of great size, large.

   Elephants are big animals, and they eat a lot.‎

   • 1909, Archibald Marshall, The Squire's Daughter, chapterIII:

     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.

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

     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.

2. (of an industry or other field) Thought to have undue influence.

   There were concerns about the ethics of big science.‎

3. Popular.

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

4. (informal) Adult.

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

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

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

5. (informal) Fat.

   Gosh, she is big!‎

6. (informal) Important or significant.

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

   • 1909, Archibald Marshall, The Squire's Daughter, chapterII:

     "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."

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

     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.

7. (informal, with on) Enthusiastic (about).

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

8. (informal) Mature, conscientious, principled.

   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.‎

9. (informal) Well-endowed, possessing large breasts in the case of a woman or a large **** in the case of a man.

   Whoa, Nadia has gotten pretty big since she hit puberty.‎

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

    She was big with child.‎

    • (Can we date this quote?) Joseph Addison (1672–1719)

      [Day] big with the fate of Cato and of Rome.

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

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

12. (of a city) populous

Synonyms

• (of a great size): ample, huge, large, sizeable, stoor, jumbo, massive
• (adult): adult, fully grown, grown up
• See also Wikisaurus:big

Antonyms

• (of a great size): little, small, tiny, minuscule, miniature, minute
• (adult): little, young

Derived terms

Translations

Adverb

big ‎(comparative bigger, superlative biggest)

1. In a loud manner.
2. In a boasting manner.

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

3. In a large amount or to a large extent.

   He won big betting on the croquet championship.

4. On a large scale, expansively

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

5. Hard.

   He hit him big and the guy just crumpled.

Noun

big ‎(plural bigs)

1. Someone or something that is large in stature
2. An important or powerful person; a celebrity; a big name.
3. (as plural) The big leagues, big time.
   • 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 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.

Synonyms

• (big leagues): major leagues

Verb

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

1. (transitive) To praise or recommend

Etymology 2

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.

Verb

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

1. (transitive, archaic or Britain dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) to inhabit; occupy
2. (reflexive, archaic or Britain dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) to locate one's self
3. (transitive, archaic or Britain dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) to build; erect; fashion
4. (intransitive, archaic or Britain dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) to dwell; have a dwelling

Etymology 3

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”).

Alternative forms

• bigg
• bygg, bygge (obsolete)

Noun

big ‎(uncountable)

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

Statistics

Anagrams

• GBI, gib

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɪx/
• Rhymes: -ɪx

Noun

big m, f ‎(plural biggen, diminutive biggetje n)

1. piglet, little pig

Irish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [bʲɪɟ]

Adjective

big

1. inflection of beag:
   1. vocative masculine singular
   2. genitive masculine singular
2. (archaic) dative feminine singular of beag

Mutation

References

• "big" in Foclóir Gaeilge-Béarla, An Gúm, 1977, by Niall Ó Dónaill.

Italian

Noun

big m ‎(invariable)

1. star (entertainment)
2. big shot, big noise

Lojban

Rafsi

big

1. rafsi of bilga.

Scots

Etymology

From Old Norse byggja ‎(“inhabit, build”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɪɡ/

Verb

big ‎(third-person singular present bigs, present participle biggin, past biggit, past participle biggit)

1. to build

Torres Strait Creole

Etymology

From English big, cognate with (the first part of) Bislama bikfala, bigfala, Pijin bigfala, Tok Pisin bikpela.

Adjective

big

1. big

Derived terms

• big boil
• big maut
• big ren
• big taun
• big wata
• big win

Welsh

Noun

big

1. Soft mutation of pig.

Western Apache

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [pɪ̀k]

Etymology

From Proto-Athabaskan *-wə̓t̕.

Cognates: Navajo -bid, Plains Apache -bid.

Noun

big (inalienable, e.g., shibig "my belly", bibig "her/his/their belly")

1. belly, stomach, abdomen

Usage notes

• The form -big occurs in the White Mountain varieties; -bid occurs in San Carlos and Dilzhe’eh (Tonto).