big

big

synonyms, antonyms, definitions, examples & translations of big in English

English Online Dictionary. What means big‎? What does big mean?

Translingual

Symbol

big

  1. (international standards) ISO 639-3 language code for Biangai.

See also

  • Wiktionary’s coverage of Biangai terms

English

Pronunciation

  • enPR: bĭg, IPA(key): /bɪɡ/
  • Rhymes: -ɪɡ

Etymology 1

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.

Adjective

big (comparative bigger, superlative biggest)

  1. Of great size, large.
    Synonyms: ample, huge, large, sizeable, stour, jumbo, massive; see also Thesaurus:large
    Antonyms: little, small, tiny, minuscule, miniature, minute
    1. (informal) Fat.
      Synonyms: chubby, plus-size, rotund; see also Thesaurus:overweight
  2. (sometimes figurative) Large with young; pregnant; swelling; ready to give birth or produce.
    Synonyms: full, great, heavy; see also Thesaurus:pregnant
  3. (informal) Well-endowed; with a desired body part notably large.
    1. Specifically, big-breasted.
      Synonyms: busty, macromastic, stacked; see also Thesaurus:busty
    2. Having a large penis.
    3. Having large muscles, especially visible ones such as the chest and arm muscles.
  4. (informal) Adult; (of a child) older.
    Synonyms: adult, fully grown, grown up; see also Thesaurus:full-grown
    Antonyms: little, young
    • 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[.]
    1. (informal, slang, rare, of someone's age) Old, mature. Used to imply that someone is too old for something, or acting immaturely.
  6. (informal) Mature, conscientious, principled; generous. [with of ‘someone’]
  7. (informal) Important or significant.
    Synonyms: essential, paramount, weighty; see also Thesaurus:important
  8. Popular.
    Synonyms: all the rage, in demand, well liked
  9. (of a city) Populous.
  10. (informal) Used as an intensifier, especially of negative-valence nouns
  11. (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.
    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
  12. (informal) Enthusiastic (about). [with on ‘someone/something’]
    Synonyms: fanatical, mad, worked up; see also Thesaurus:enthusiastic
Hyponyms
  • enormous
  • gigantic
  • huge
Derived terms
Translations

Adverb

big (comparative bigger, superlative biggest)

  1. In a loud manner.
  2. In a boasting manner.
  3. In a large amount or to a large extent.
    Synonyms: greatly, hugely, largely, massively; bigly (usually humorous and nonstandard)
    1. (informal) (modifying a preposition)
  4. On a large scale, expansively.
  5. (colloquial) Hard; with great force.

Noun

big (plural bigs)

  1. Someone or something that is large in stature
  2. An important or powerful person; a celebrity; a big name.
    Synonym: big shot
  3. (in the plural) The big leagues, big time.
    Synonym: big leagues
  4. (university slang) An initiated member of a sorority or fraternity who acts as a mentor to a new member (the little).
  5. (BDSM, ABDL) The participant in ageplay who acts out the older role.
    Antonym: little

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, UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) To inhabit; occupy.
  2. (reflexive, archaic, UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) To locate oneself.
  3. (transitive, archaic, UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) To build; erect; fashion.
  4. (intransitive, archaic, UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) To dwell; have a dwelling.
Derived terms
  • unbigged

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.

References

Anagrams

  • IGB, gib, GBI, GiB, GIB, Gib.

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch bagge, vigge, from Old Dutch *bigga, from Proto-West Germanic *biggō. Originally a word exclusive to the Northern Dutch dialects.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /bɪx/
  • Hyphenation: big
  • Rhymes: -ɪx

Noun

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

  1. piglet, little pig
    Synonym: keu

Derived terms

  • biggenkruid

Irish

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /bʲɪɟ/

Adjective

big

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

Mutation

References

Italian

Etymology

Pseudo-anglicism, a clipping of English big shot.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈbiɡ/
  • Rhymes: -iɡ
  • Hyphenation: bìg

Noun

big m (invariable)

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

Jamaican Creole

Etymology

Derived from English big.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /bɪɡ/

Adjective

big (comparative biga, superlative bigis)

  1. big
  2. great; to a great extent

Romagnol

Etymology

English big.

Pronunciation

  • (Central Romagnol): IPA(key): [ˈbiːɡ]

Noun

big m (invariable)

  1. important person

Scots

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /bɪɡ/

Verb

big (third-person singular simple present bigs, present participle biggin, simple 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

Welsh

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /biːɡ/

Noun

big

  1. Soft mutation of pig.

Mutation

Western Apache

Etymology

From Proto-Athabaskan *-wə̓t̕.

Cognates: Navajo -bid, Plains Apache -bid.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [pɪ̀k]

Noun

big (inalienable)

  1. belly, stomach, abdomen
    shibig ― my belly
    bibig ― her/his/their belly

Usage notes

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

Yola

Etymology

From Middle English bigge.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /bɪɡ/

Adjective

big

  1. great, big

References

  • Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 36

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This article based on an article on Wiktionary. The list of authors can be seen in the page history there. The original work has been modified. This article is distributed under the terms of this license.