To get the big-head. To get drunk. For synonyms, see Screwed.
Big House, subs. (common).—The workhouse,—a phrase used by the very
poor; sometimes called the large house.
1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 52. ‘As
long as they kept out of the big house (the workhouse), she would
not complain.’ Ibid, II., p. 251. The men hate the thought of going
to the big house.
Big Mouth, subs. (American).—Excessive talkativeness; loquacity. Cf.,
All mouth. For synonyms, see Gas.
Big Nuts to Crack, subs. phr. (American).—An undertaking of magnitude;
one not easy to perform. [From a presumed difficulty in cracking large
nuts.]
Big One or Big ’Un, subs. (old).—A man of note or importance. The
current colloquialism is big-wig, but at one time big-one was the more
frequently-used expression. For synonyms, see Great gun.
1819. Moore, Tom Crib’s Memorial to Congress, p. 42. Then up rose
Ward, the veteran Joe, And, ’twixt his whiffs, suggested briefly
That but a few at first should go, And those, the light-weight
Gemmen chiefly; As if too many big ones went, They might alarm the
Continent!
Big People, subs. (familiar).—Persons of standing or consequence. Cf.,
Great gun.
1858. Anthony Trollope, Dr. Thorne, I., p. 43. He would in no way
assume a familiarity with bigger men than himself; allowing to the
bigger men the privilege of making the first advances. Ibid, p. 81.
When one is absolutely in the dirt at their feet, perhaps these big
people won’t wish one to stoop any further.
Big Pond, subs. (popular).—The Atlantic. Also called the big drink
(q.v.).
1838. Haliburton (‘Sam Slick’), The Clockmaker, 3 S., ch. xviii. He
[old Clay] is all sorts of a hoss, and the best live one that ever
cut dirt this side of the big pond, or t’other side either.
1883. Sala, Living London, p. 204. Next time Miss Ward crosses the
big pond, I earnestly hope that she will cross the ‘Rockies,’ and
triumphantly descend the Pacific slope.
Big Pot, subs. (familiar).—A person of consequence. For synonyms, see
Great gun.
1880. Punch’s Almanac, The Cad’s Calendar. Lor! if I’d the ochre,
make no doubt, I could cut no end of big pots out. Call me cad?
When money’s in the game, Cad and swell are pooty much the same.
Big-Side, subs. (Rugby School).—The combination of all the bigger
fellows in the school in one and the same game or run; also the ground
specially used for the game so denominated. Used also at other public
schools.
Big-Side Run, subs. (Rugby School).—A paper chase, in which picked
representatives of all houses take part, as opposed to a house run.
Big Take, subs. (American).—That which takes the public fancy; a great
success, etc.,—in short, anything that ‘catches on.’—See Take.
Big Talk, subs. (popular).—Pompous speech; a pedantic use of long
words.
1874. Saturday Review, Feb., p. 280. [With regard to words like
‘psithurism,’ ‘cheirognomy,’ ‘scintillating eyes,’ ‘the
phaesimbrotous sun’] perhaps they have been grown so accustomed to
big talk that, etc.
Big-Wig, subs. (popular).—A person of consequence; one high in
authority or rank. [From big + wig, an allusion to the large and ornate
headgear of men of importance in former times.] The term is used both
contemptuously and humorously. For synonyms, see Great gun.
1703. English Spy, p. 255. Most noble cracks, and worthy cousin
trumps,—permit me to introduce a brother of the togati, fresh as a
new-blown rose, and innocent as the lilies of St. Clements. Be unto
him ever ready to promote his wishes, whether for spree or sport,
in term and out of term,—against the Inquisition and their
bull-dogs—the town-raff and the bargees—well-blunted or
stiver-cramped—against dun or don—nob or big wig—so may you never
want a bumper of bishop.
1846. Thackeray, Vanity Fair, ch. xx. We live among bankers and
city big-wigs, and be hanged to them, and every man, as he talks to
you, is jingling his guineas in his pocket.
1859. H. Kingsley, Geoffrey Hamlyn, ch. xlv. So you are going to
sit among the big-wigs in the House of Lords.
1876 circa. Broadside Ballad, ‘Justice and Law.’
The Penge Case you know took a curious twist,
But how it occurred, we can’t guess,
Unless, unexpected, some turn of the wrist,
Has got some ‘big-wig’ in a mess.
To some folks it seems rather queer, now, you see,
When ‘Sentence of Death’ had been passed,
That one of the four is allowed to go free,
And her prison doors wide open cast.
Chorus.
1880. A. Trollope, The Duke’s Children, ch. xxvi. ‘The Right
Honorable gentleman no doubt means,’ said Phineas, ‘that we must
carry ourselves with some increased external dignity. The world is
bigwigging itself, and we must buy a bigger wig than any we have
got, in order to confront the world with proper self-respect.’
Big-Wigged, ppl. adj. (popular).—Pompous; consequential. [From big-wig
(q.v.) + [g] ed.]
1851. Carlyle, John Sterling, pt. I., ch. vii. And along with
obsolete spiritualisms, he sees all manner of obsolete thrones and
big-wigged temporalities.
Big-Wiggery, subs. (popular).—A display of consequence, or pomposity.
[From big-wig (q.v.) + [g] ery, a condition.]
1848. Thackeray, Book of Snobs, ch. ii. Whilst Louis XIV., his old
squaretoes of a contemporary—the great worshipper of bigwiggery—has
always struck me as a most undoubted and Royal Snob.
1855. Household Words, xii., 250. All this solemn bigwiggery—these
triumphs, ovations, sacrifices, orations.
Big-Wiggism, subs. (popular).—Pomposity. [From big-wig (q.v.) + [g]
ism, a state or condition.]
1871–72. G. Eliot, Middlemarch, ch. xvii. I determined not to try
anything in London for a good many years at least. I didn’t like
what I saw when I was studying there—so much empty big-wiggism and
obstructive trickery.
Big Words, subs. (familiar).—Pompous speech; ‘crack-jaw’ words. Cf., To
talk big, and Big talk.
1879. Grenville Murray, Member for Paris, I., p. 103. ‘I don’t like
such cynicism!’ ‘Oh, cynicism is a big word.’
Bilbo or Bilboa, subs. (old).—A sword. Bilboa in Spain was once
renowned for well-tempered blades. Grose [1785] quotes the term as
slang; this, however, is somewhat doubtful.
1592. Greene, Disputation, etc., in wks. X., 236. Let them doe what
they dare with their bilbowe blades, I feare them not.
1693. Congreve, Old Batchelor, Act iii., Sc. 7. Tell them, I say,
he must refund—or bilbo’s the word, and slaughter will ensue.
1713. Guardian, No. 145. ‘He that shall rashly attempt to regulate
our hilts, or reduce our blades, had need to have a heart of oak
... Bilbo is the word, remember that and tremble.’
1816. Scott, Old Mortality, ch. iv. ‘It was all fair play; your
comrade sought a fall, and he has got it.’
‘That is true enough,’ said Bothwell, as he slowly rose; ‘put up
your bilbo, Tom.’
2. A kind of stock—a long iron bar with sliding shackles for the ankles
of prisoners, and a lock by which to fasten the bar at one end to the
ground. The derivation is very uncertain.
1557. Hakluyt, Voy., I., 295. I was also conveyed to their lodgings
... where I saw a pair of bilbowes.
1594. Nashe, Terrors of the Night, in wks. (Grosart) III., 255. He
that is spyced with the gowte or the dropsie, frequently dreameth
of fetters and manacles, and being put on the bilbowes.
1596. Shakspeare, Hamlet, Act v., Sc. 2. Ham. ... Methought I lay
worse than the mutines in the bilboes.
1695. Congreve, Love for Love, Act iii., Sc. 6. Now a Man that is
marry’d, has as it were, d’ye see, his Feet in the bilboes, and
may-hap mayn’t get ’em out again when he wou’d.
1714. Memoirs of John Hall (4 ed.), p. 19. And are those shear’d,
or put into bilboes, and handcufft.
1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5 ed.). Bilboes, the punishing a person
at sea, by laying or putting the offender in irons, or a sort of
stocks, but more severe than the common stocks.
1815. Scott, Guy Mannering, ch. xxxiv. ‘And now let us talk about
our business.’ ‘Your business, if you please,’ said Hatterick;
‘bagel and donner!—mine was done when I got out of the bilboes.’
Bile, subs. (old).—1. The female pudenda. For synonyms, see
Monosyllable.