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What is "big"

Crossword clues for big

big
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
big
I.adjective
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a (big) box office draw (=a successful actor who many people will pay to see)
a big breakfast
▪ Most people don’t eat a big breakfast nowadays.
a big brother (=older brother - used especially by or to children)
▪ Jake was my big brother and I admired him.
a big day (=a day when something important is arranged to take place)
▪ Just before the big day the team was training 6 days a week.
a big decision (=an important decision)
▪ Marriage is a big decision.
a big demand
▪ There’s always a big demand for photographs of celebrities.
a big eater (=someone who usually eats large meals)
▪ I'm not a very big eater.
a big expansion
▪ Last year saw a big expansion at the company.
a big explosion
▪ There has been a big explosion in the centre of Paris.
a big favour
▪ I’ve got a big favour to ask of you.
a big fight
▪ They ended up having a big fight in the pub.
a big gamble
▪ It's a big gamble for any presenter to leave such a successful show.
a big hassle
▪ I find putting on make-up a big hassle.
a big headline (=a headline that a lot of people are interested in)
▪ Celebrity divorces have made big headlines.
a big heart (=a kind and generous character)
▪ She may be only small, but she has a big heart.
a big improvement
▪ The situation today is a big improvement on the 1980s.
a big laugh
▪ There was a big laugh from the crowd.
a big lead
▪ The Bruins had a big lead at half-time.
a big liarspoken (= someone who tells big lies)
▪ You're such a big liar!
a big lie
▪ The lawyer said it was a ‘big lie’ that Jones had not received the message.
a big match (=an important match)
▪ Are you going to watch the big match on TV?
a big movement
▪ He made a big sweeping movement with his arm.
a big mystery
▪ If they are right, they have solved one of the biggest mysteries in astronomy.
a big part
▪ She felt the studio hadn’t given her enough big parts.
a big secret (=an important secret or one that very few people know)
▪ The event was supposed to be a big secret, but everyone knew about it.
a big sister (=an older sister)
▪ She misses her big sister dreadfully.
a big sky (=a sky that looks large)
▪ Montana is still a land of big skies.
a big star (=a very famous and successful star)
▪ He has worked with some of the world’s biggest stars.
a big storm
▪ The tree had come down on the day of the big storm.
a big story (=a report about something important)
▪ He had promised the newspaper a big story on a major celebrity.
a big wedding (=with a lot of guests)
▪ They couldn’t afford a big wedding.
a big welcome
▪ They had planned a big welcome for Martin.
a big win (=an important win, or one that you win by a large amount)
▪ This is one of the biggest wins I’ve had.
a big/bad defeat (also a heavy defeat British English) (= by a large amount)
▪ The polls were forecasting a heavy defeat for the President.
a big/broad/wide smile (=when you are very happy)
▪ She had a big smile on her face.
a big/great effort
▪ The government has made a big effort to tackle the problem of poverty.
a big/great influence
▪ The goalkeeper’s injury had a big influence on the match.
a big/great mistake
▪ Buying this car was a big mistake.
a big/great shock
▪ It was a great shock to find out he had been lying.
a big/great surprise
▪ The results were a big surprise.
a big/great thrill
▪ It was a great thrill for me to beat Federer.
a big/great/huge risk
▪ There is a great risk that the wound will become infected.
a big/great/major disadvantage
▪ This method has one major disadvantage: its cost.
a big/great/massive/huge advantage
▪ It’s a great advantage to be able to speak some Spanish.
a big/great/splendid occasion
▪ The big occasion for country people was the Agricultural Fair.
a big/huge bill
▪ Turn off the lights or we’ll get a huge electricity bill.
a big/huge etc grin
▪ He walked towards me with a big grin.
a big/huge panic
▪ There was a big panic about the virus last year.
a big/huge profit
▪ Drug companies make huge profits.
a big/huge/enormous appetite
▪ By the time Ron was 16 he had an enormous appetite.
a big/huge/major success
▪ The government claimed the policy was a major success.
a big/huge/massive argument
▪ There was a big argument about whether we should move to a new house.
a big/huge/massive fan
▪ Elizabeth is a massive fan of Elton John.
a big/large budget
▪ The club does not have a large budget for new players.
a big/large demonstration
▪ Opponents of the new law are planning a big demonstration next week.
a big/large exhibition
▪ This is the largest exhibition of its kind that we have ever seen in London.
a big/large meal
▪ We don’t have a big meal at lunchtime, usually just sandwiches.
a big/large reduction
▪ You may have to take a big reduction in salary.
a big/large/generous tip
▪ The service was great and we left a large tip.
a big/large/huge crowd
▪ A big crowd is expected tomorrow for the final match.
a big/large/major city
▪ They have stores in Houston, Dallas, and other big cities.
a big/large/wide gap
▪ There’s a big gap between the two test scores.
a big/large/wide/small mouth
▪ He had a big nose and a big mouth.
▪ Billy’s wide mouth stretched into a grin.
a big/little kiss
▪ She put her arms around him and gave him a big kiss.
a big/long scar
▪ For the patients, keyhole surgery means no big scar.
a big/major attraction
▪ The ducks and geese are a big attraction to children.
a big/major breakthrough
▪ Einstein believed he was on the verge of a big breakthrough.
a big/major event (=important)
▪ Getting married is a major event in anyone’s life.
a big/major fire
▪ A big fire was raging at the fuel depot.
a big/major scandal
▪ The president was forced to resign following a major scandal.
a big/major shift
▪ There has recently been a big shift in the way people are accessing information.
a big/major/huge difference
▪ I think you’ll notice a big difference.
a big/major/huge/tremendous challenge
▪ Building the tunnel presented a major challenge to engineers.
a big/major/large chain
▪ It is one of Europe’s biggest clothing chains.
a big/major/massive/huge investment
▪ Developing a new computer system is always a big investment for any organisation.
a big/major/serious/heavy blow
▪ The earthquake was a serious blow to the area’s tourism industry.
a big/serious/severe setback
▪ This is a serious setback to the company.
a big/severe embarrassment
▪ This failure was a severe embarrassment to the government.
a big/small celebration
▪ We’re having a small celebration for Dad’s birthday.
a big/small discount
▪ If you spend over £50, you get a big discount.
a big/small party
▪ I don’t really like going to big parties.
a big/smash/number 1 etc hit
▪ the Beatles’ greatest hits
▪ Which band had a hit with ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’?
a good deal bigger/better etc
▪ He was a good deal older than her.
a huge/great/big sigh
▪ She heaved a great sigh.
a key/major/big issue (=very important)
▪ For me, the big issue is cost.
a large/big company
▪ She has a senior position in a large manufacturing company.
a large/big firm
▪ He is managing director of a large firm.
a large/big margin
▪ By a large margin, the book sold more copies than any other this year.
a large/big slice
▪ He was eating a large slice of chocolate cake.
a main/biggest/greatest enemy
▪ Terrorism is our country’s main enemy.
a major/big role
▪ It was his first major role.
a major/big/great worry
▪ Traffic congestion is not yet a major worry in the area.
a major/big/large customer (=who is important and buys a lot)
▪ America is a big customer for Japanese goods.
a shade too big/hot/fast etc
▪ Matt’s clothes were just a shade too big for me.
a wide/large/big selection
▪ The museum shop offers a wide selection of items.
an important/big question
▪ The book raises important questions about nationality and the role of a citizen.
an important/major/big step
▪ The move is seen as a major step forward for UK firms.
be bigger/smaller/worse etc than you had imagined
▪ The job interview proved to be much worse than I had imagined it would be.
big band
▪ Tommy Dorsey’s big band
big bang theory
big boy (=an older boy)
▪ Come on, Timmy, act like a big boy now.
big bucks
▪ Her parents spent big bucks on her wedding.
big business
▪ Dieting has become big business.
big cat
big cats (=lions, tigers etc)
▪ All 36 species of big cat are vulnerable or endangered.
big cheese
big deal
▪ It’s just a game. If you lose, big deal.
big dipper
big game
▪ a big game hunter
big government
▪ big government welfare policies
big gun
▪ one of the party’s big guns
big hitter
▪ one of the big hitters of the Conservative Party
Big Man on Campus
big moneyinformal (= a very large amount of money)
▪ Basketball players make big money.
big money
▪ Carter won big money in Vegas last year.
big muscles
▪ He's developed big arm muscles.
big name
▪ Poor attendance at the concert was put down to the lack of big names.
big noise
big screen
▪ She was last seen on the big screen in the comedy ‘Jawbreaker’.
big shot
▪ His father’s a big shot and he thinks he is, too.
big spenders (=people who spend a lot of money)
▪ The new casino hopes to attract big spenders.
big ticket
▪ big ticket items such as cars or jewelry
big time
▪ Morris messed up big time.
big time
▪ The 46-year-old author has finally hit the big time.
big toe
big toe (=the largest of your toes)
big top
big wheel
big words (=words that sound very important or serious)
▪ It scares me, when you use big words like that.
big
▪ African elephants' ears are bigger than those of Indian elephants.
big
▪ She looked at me with those big brown eyes.
big
▪ See that guy over there, the one with the big nose?
big/enormous etc ego
▪ Richard has the biggest ego thinks he is very clever and important of anyone I’ve ever met.
big/great dreams (=a wish to achieve great things)
▪ She was a little girl with big dreams.
big/great trouble
▪ High interest rates spell big trouble for homeowners.
big/great
▪ Winning this competition could have a big impact on my life.
▪ His impact was greater than that of the Beatles.
big/high
▪ They both need to work full-time because their mortage is so big.
big/large
▪ The company has announced a big increase in its profits for last year.
big/large
▪ The debts got bigger and bigger.
big/large
▪ I was hungry so I asked for a large portion of french fries.
big/large
▪ This is the biggest earthquake ever recorded in this area.
big/large
▪ There has been a big rise in violent crime.
big/major
▪ Going to a new school is a big change for children.
big/major
▪ The teachers’ strike had a big effect on many schools.
big/major/main etc polluter
▪ a list of Canada’s worst polluters
big/major/serious
▪ The school’s biggest problem is a shortage of cash.
big/mega bucks (=a lot of money)
▪ Using celebrities in advertising is guaranteed to pull in big bucks.
big/powerful
▪ The newer model has a more powerful engine.
big/small
▪ He had small neat feet.
big/spacious
▪ It was a big flat with eight or nine rooms.
gave...a big build-up
▪ The presenter gave her a big build-up.
great/big/high
▪ The rewards for those who invested at the right time are high.
▪ Some athletes took drugs because the rewards were great and they thought they could get away with it.
heaps better/bigger etc (=much better, bigger etc)
high/large/big
▪ The school fees are extremely high.
hit the big time
▪ The 46-year-old author has finally hit the big time.
It’s no big deal
▪ It’s no big deal. Everybody forgets things sometimes.
large/big
▪ Novaya Zemlja is a large island in the Russian Arctic.
long/big
▪ Already a long queue had formed outside the concert hall
▪ There was a big queue.
made it big (=was extremely successful)
▪ He came to the US and not only made it but made it big.
major/definite/big etc plus
▪ Some knowledge of Spanish is a definite plus in this job.
much too big/old etc
▪ He was driving much too fast.
nice big/new/long etc
▪ a nice long holiday
▪ a nice new car
sb's biggest competitor (=sb's main competitor, especially in business)
▪ The company's biggest competitor is in financial trouble.
sb's main/biggest concern
▪ My main concern is my children.
sb’s biggest regret
▪ Her biggest regret was not having children.
sb’s main/biggest worry
▪ My biggest worry is that I might make a fool of myself.
small/big
▪ I grew up in a small town in Iowa.
▪ The nearest big town is 20 miles away.
the big newsinformal (= an important piece of news)
▪ The big news is that Polly and Richard are going to get married.
the big race (=an important race)
▪ There are only three days to go until the big race.
the big screen (=films)
▪ This is the first time the play has been adapted for the big screen.
the biggest challenge of sth
▪ This could be the biggest challenge of his career.
the biggest/highest etc on record
▪ Last summer was one of the hottest on record.
the biggest/largest consumer of sth
▪ The US is the world’s biggest oil consumer.
the greatest/biggest threat
▪ The greatest threat to our planet is global warming.
the main/biggest/greatest etc obstacle
▪ The biggest obstacle to women's equality was social expectations of male and female roles.
twice as high/big/large etc (as sth)
▪ Interest rates are twice as high as those of our competitors.
walloping great/big
▪ a walloping great house
way heavier/smarter/bigger etc (=much heavier etc)
▪ The tickets were way more expensive than I thought.
What’s the big deal?
▪ What’s the big deal? It’s only a birthday, not the end of the world.
yet more/bigger/higher etc
▪ He got a call from the factory, telling of yet more problems.
▪ Inflation had risen to a yet higher level.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
as
▪ A project almost as big as the Channel Tunnel is now under way to bring cable television to every house in Britain.
▪ Our skating stars are as big as football stars.
▪ A pile as big as this!
▪ But LeRoy, he got one half again as big.
▪ It had more of the great blocky writing, some of the letters nearly as big as a nome's head.
▪ With careful pinpointing, manufacturers can have as big an impact with fewer coupons, he says.
▪ And there is a warren here, but not as big a one as we should like.
▪ That was about as big as it got.
even
▪ For the yellow menace.was even bigger and more terrible than they knew.
▪ Its volunteer staff of 750, 000 is even bigger than the Manpower workforce.
▪ Maria went to the University of Krakow Business School and ended up making an even bigger pile of money.
▪ The troll again asked his question and learned that an even bigger goat would soon cross his bridge.
▪ In 1987 an even bigger slice of the budget was apportioned to training, in recognition of its importance.
▪ Ike and New Hope were building an even bigger church next door to the old new one.
▪ But now even bigger and more drastic changes are on the horizon.
▪ Brokers said they see an even bigger trading year for 1996 as foreign investment rises.
much
▪ It was red in colour and had much bigger wheels than the ordinary farm cart.
▪ But changes in product-liability laws, a much bigger undertaking, remain stalled.
▪ So much bigger than anything I have ever undertaken, he wrote.
▪ The way he sees it, each town is like a neighborhood in a much bigger community.
▪ The most successful, Susan Faludi's Backlash, achieved a much bigger multiple, selling 40,000 copies.
▪ And they knew about much bigger people who had started out like this.
▪ But Brandt's were a much bigger concern than Benn's and were aggressively expanding their share of the world market.
▪ None the less, they hold on because they expect much bigger earnings in the future to eventually fuel dividend payments.
so
▪ She'd never ridden so big a horse as Sultan. and it gave her a great thrill.
▪ I yearn for the days before I grew so big.
▪ He makes a sandwich so big even he can't force it in his mouth.
▪ But it was eerie in the sense that the trees were so big and dense and it was so dark.
▪ I his park s blummin huge - I never knew it was so big.
▪ We are are so big, and move along with such momentum, that we are able to live through everything.
▪ It's all so big and confusing - all them streets and cars and places.
▪ They had served a cake, so big you could walk inside it, shaped like an igloo.
too
▪ But they are both just too big for everyday use.
▪ The envelope was too big for the bag, so everyone could see it.
▪ I was given her clothes, which were too big and made the soldiers laugh.
▪ For the grand narrative of History was always too big for its boots.
▪ Got too big for his body, they say.
▪ No, he wasn't beautiful - his skin was burnt a little pink and his elbows and feet were too big.
▪ It was too big for her.
very
▪ Rex breathed a very big sigh of relief.
▪ It is a big thing, a very big sacrifice on their part.
▪ Part of her had the feeling that she was making a very big mistake.
▪ He is very big and creates great opportunities.
▪ A very big one licked me with its tongue.
▪ There are some that are building very big things.
▪ Uberwald is a very big place.
▪ Yet there is a very big disjunction here.
■ NOUN
band
▪ When they did get good they'd be one of the biggest bands in the world, the Fish predicted.
▪ As in the stuff they make big band horn sections out of.
▪ Moving one of the world's biggest bands around on a tour of this size is a massive operation.
▪ The big bands ran into other economic barriers as well.
▪ The evening will include a Bucks Fizz welcome, dinner, live big band, disco and cabaret.
▪ Henderson had recorded with a big band before -- three tunes, in fact, in 1992.
▪ Weller s big band took over for the final hour.
▪ She returned to New York in 1983, forming a new big band by Tabackin.
brother
▪ I say bigger brother, but the 880 is only really comparable with the 990 for resolution and performance.
▪ Stewart was deeply moved to be back in the compelling presence of his big brother after five years.
▪ Vincente caddied for him for a while but it was an awkward role for a big brother.
▪ When I told my big brother about the whole thing, he said I was bloody stupid.
▪ Spider was a big brother, a mentor, a guidance counselor that put the whole world in his hands.
▪ He was my big brother and now he's dead.
▪ Ginny, her dad was abusive, and her big brother used to beat her up.
buck
▪ Maybe it's the nations healthy suspicion of flash gestures and big bucks.
▪ And it provides lists of San Francisco Bay area residents who have handed big bucks to candidates.
▪ The pair are said to dislike each other intensely - only the lure of the big bucks they make keeps them together.
▪ The big bucks have not changed her life much either, Brandt avers.
▪ Brokers hope that corporations will spring for the big bucks necessary to secure one of these behemoths.
▪ Want great graphics without spending big bucks on software?
▪ Become a student and get paid the big bucks.
▪ At the same time, employees see their CEOs raking in the big bucks.
business
▪ With 40,000 hip replacements a year, making joints is big business, now mostly done by multi-nationals companies.
▪ The reason I support him is he speaks from his heart, not from big business.
▪ It is rare for any big business to take initiatives like that on its own.
▪ Direct mail order sale of food products by food manufacturers and specialty shops has become big business.
▪ Negotiation is at the heart of all big business deals and even the little ones too.
▪ President Kim took the wrong course in favor of big business, ignoring the needs of the majority of the people.
▪ Well, never forget that if big businesses are suffering, small ones are too.
▪ In the social hierarchy, these lords of big business were the equivalent of the daimyos of the past with their clans.
city
▪ In Eliot's own life such an idea seems to have been associated particularly with artistic movements of the big cities.
▪ Whenever I play the big cities now, the anticipation of coming home to the land is overwhelming.
▪ Indeed the earliest suburban development preceded railway expansion by a decade or so in the big cities.
▪ Ah, say, fly over a big city at night!
▪ He: from the big city gentleman, to the rugged biker, to the fictions of Havana.
▪ Most big city newspapers, bought up by chains, were operated from out of town as bottom-line corporate businesses.
▪ The village child needs to be aware of the noise and movement of the big city.
▪ Indeed, some young cities offer lifestyles superior to those of traditional big cities.
day
▪ Beaverbrooks recommend you choose your wedding ring about three months before the big day so that you have no last minute worries.
▪ But Jones had his biggest day since 1993 Sunday.
▪ The big day was February 4, and Chapman headed north with his team on the previous Thursday.
▪ Bob Dole, the indisputable Republican front-runner, had an even bigger day.
▪ Concentrate instead on getting everything ready for the big day.
▪ The swans started to build their nest several weeks ago and everyone at the factory had been eagerly awaiting the big day.
▪ Last year Demi, who co-starred in Ghost, hired an amusement park for 37-year-old Bruce's big day.
deal
▪ But it's not a big deal.
▪ Any single one might not have been such a big deal.
▪ I told him about Bad Money - another short, no big deal.
▪ It would be no big deal.
▪ Finding people was no big deal to him. ` That's easy.
▪ But Vassar taught me that I could do whatever I wanted to do without making a big deal out of it.
▪ He d been thieving again, of course, but it was no big deal really.
▪ We had a big deal as to whether or not we should steal some.
difference
▪ But there is one big difference - excluding supervisors, it is manned by people who don't want to be there.
▪ A small thing, but it makes a big difference..
▪ One big difference from the normal formation was that there were five defenders playing, not the usual four.
▪ The biggest difference is in the size of the companies traded.
▪ One big difference is that there are no missionary organisations involved in health care.
▪ Such programs can make a big difference for the students they serve.
▪ Altitude, too, makes a big difference to how quickly you can burn.
▪ That was the big difference between the days before and after I fell sick.
fan
▪ Not so, says Dallas running back Emmitt Smith, one of Williams' biggest fans.
▪ He's not a big fan of the Trevor Horn kitchen-sink ethos.
▪ Uncle Tu was a big fan of your teacher.
▪ The big fan above the door hums.
▪ Amanda Holden is a big fan, apparently.
▪ He is a big fan of reggae music and the late Bob Marley, a follower of the Rastafarian religion.
fish
▪ Carp are no different from any other big fish.
▪ So far, the products have landed some big fish.
▪ Entire gangs have been arrested, and some very big fish have been netted.
▪ When a herring meets its end, it is usually in the mouth of a bigger fish or a in a net.
▪ The big fish, seeing the little one there, glides into the basket to gobble him up.
▪ On a recent afternoon, he lobbed a variety of plastic lures toward the big fish.
▪ They say you can catch really big fish.
▪ The possibility of a big fish was too much for him.
game
▪ Try saying big glass as you would say big game and then as you would say big deal.
▪ I love to play in big games.
▪ So far, all manager Roy Walker will say is that the big man will be in the big game panel.
▪ He was supposedly making arrangements to bring his suit and his hair back to Los Angeles for this big game.
▪ They reckon it's no bad thing to be going from one big game to another.
▪ Others, like Phoenix Mayor Skip Rimsza, bought the seats so he could take his family to the big game.
▪ I had brought a rifle with me to Abyssinia. determined to achieve my dream of hunting big game.
▪ The Towel stills makes appearances, especially for big games.
government
▪ Most substantially, Rockefeller is attacked as an apostle of big government.
▪ The national-greatness conservatives, as represented by Kristol and Brooks, make their peace with big government.
▪ Clinton has an undeniable economic vision: bigger government.
▪ All the political rhetoric about big government protecting the weak and the poor is coming into question as well.
▪ The feistier sort of Republican is as hostile to big government by indirect means as to the direct variety.
▪ Democrats are addicted to big government, big spending and big taxes.
gun
▪ All the big guns are through to the semi-finals as expected.
▪ The side with the most men and the biggest guns will inevitably wear down its opponent.
▪ Lincoln brought in the big guns of William Temple to get bishop and rector to release the curate before the time.
▪ They leaned into their big guns, shoulders twitching.
▪ In part two: Showdown: Soccer's big guns prepare for a shootout.
▪ There was a tank with a big gun on it.
▪ The big guy with the big gun strafed the place.
▪ In 1996, they were the big guns who stormed through Atlanta with more devastating firepower than Sherman's troops.
hit
▪ Matalan, the out-of-town discount retailer, took the biggest hit.
▪ The splashy novelty number was a big hit.
▪ And a fielder caught his big hit on the boundary, denying his team a win.
▪ I went with the mugs and they're a big hit.
▪ Mason's gusher was not a big hit in Bondgate either.
▪ The Miatas are a big hit, retailing for between $ 35, 000 and $ 55, 000.
▪ A regional footnote - the lumberjack-style Timberland boot was a big hit in the Eighties.
▪ No, seriously, they watched to hear some of the biggest names in pop music perform their biggest hits.
house
▪ He went to an auction of a big house in Cambridge and bought a lot of cheap carpets.
▪ He owned one of the biggest houses in the best neighborhood, traveled all around the world, had a summer home.
▪ We were looking for a big house in Southampton.
▪ The big house was just that.
▪ A year passed and then a big house in Oxford Street came along.
▪ They really believed everyone was rich and lived in big houses with winding staircases.
▪ It was a lovely big house with a big garden out the back.
▪ The Stabler family, comfortably well off with their big house and servants, could have helped her if she had asked.
job
▪ Oscar Orbos has done well as Mrs Aquino's aide, but at 40 may be too young for the big job.
▪ No one would deny that there's a big job to be done retrieving the credibility of science.
▪ Our advance party had done a big job.
▪ Prodi has also given big jobs to two ex-prime ministers, both former central bankers.
▪ It's a big job, but I guess somebody had to do it.
▪ Yes, he wants to complete one big job before he dies.
man
▪ Yet bigger men than them have learned to their cost that no one can behave like that.
▪ But the three veteran big men could be attractive to other teams precisely because their deals are up.
▪ The big man has got bigger, and the small man smaller.
▪ And the big man always pays the largest price for failure.
▪ He drove like a man who enjoys driving; a big man at the wheel of a big car.
▪ In addition to excelling academically, Mr Packard was a football star and big man around campus.
mistake
▪ Then on the last night I made my big mistake, and hit that bad business I told you about.
▪ That, in retrospect, was a big mistake.
▪ Spending even this short amount of time with him had been a big mistake.
▪ His big mistake was to brag to one of the fat traders how he had done it.
▪ I want to underline the biggest mistake which I believe bands make when they are starting out.
▪ You might be right, dear, that I made a big mistake?
▪ A ball of fire he might be, but he'd made one big mistake!
money
▪ Soon even bigger money began to flow-and not just to leading banks in Britain and the United States.
▪ You look like big money now.
▪ Despite the big money transfer of Colin Caulderwood.
▪ The proposed test program is inadequate to ensure the necessary reliability before we begin to spend big money on national missile defense.
▪ Pundits expect the really big money for 3-D displays to be in video-games and television advertising.
▪ Sometimes, it costs big money.
▪ But if the blockade continues it's going to start costing big money.
▪ And that could be very big money.
name
▪ All the big names in the industry have tried it.
▪ Miller disagrees with recent stories that the Senior tour has hit a dead period, its biggest names slipping into the doldrums.
▪ More financial support would help improve her chances against the big names.
▪ The big name in Mission still thrives.
▪ The Lisburn event traditionally draws big names, as a glance through the previous winners list confirms.
▪ She is part of the small but growing number of public relations experts who represent big names in religion.
▪ And as soon as any of the old big names are fit, they're guaranteed a place in the team.
▪ The biggest name is left tackle Lomas Brown, who came from Detroit.
part
▪ Cleanse your whole body Advocates believe that crystals can even play a big part in your daily beauty routine.
▪ With a grilled steak or lamb, a big part of the decision involves where the food is eaten.
▪ But the mind plays a big part in this game.
▪ Residential building, a big part of the Southeast economy, continued to lose steam in the quarter.
▪ Venue personality So, when you're picking the venue, remember that atmosphere will play a big part in your success.
▪ Traffic played a big part out there.
▪ Hunting was a big part of her life, of course, and I have mixed feelings about that subject.
▪ Politics has been a big part of it.
picture
▪ They specialize in the big picture and are no good at details.
▪ They see the details but miss the big picture.
▪ Wood engravings were generally small, because the box tree is small and its end-grain can not accommodate a big picture.
▪ My plea is for balance and for concentration on the big picture.
▪ That is the closing point; the biggest picture in the exhibition will be the finale.
▪ In the big picture, the Rams were nothing more than a speed bump on the road toward the Super Bowl.
▪ We need to seize the big picture.
▪ Doing so shifts the big picture from industry conquering nature to industry cooperating with nature.
play
▪ Free safety Merton Hanks will look for more big plays in the second half of the season.
▪ That was a pretty big play.
▪ Consequently, our club got a big play from any and all officer personnel on the base camp.
▪ Except for one breakdown, San Diego refused to give up big plays, the Raiders' trademark so far.
▪ He kept telling Johnson he was going to make big plays and score the winning shot.
▪ He has made big plays at very important times.
▪ And they made enough big plays on their own Sunday night.
problem
▪ Nina ... Her safety, now with Klingfeld's agents in New York, was the biggest problem of all.
▪ But for others, it persists and becomes a big problem.
▪ The big problem is to link up the route from the north.
▪ Their biggest problem was having to drag around these old, puffy-looking, blue-collar bodies.
▪ Two other big problems facing the organisers are crowd and traffic control.
▪ Both need to refocus the political debate from their respective ethics problems to the big problems facing the country.
▪ Knitters often tell me that their biggest problem is time.
▪ His biggest problem is the seemingly resolute determination of Pat Buchanan and Steve Forbes to hang in.
race
▪ Plus latest news on the big race, updated racecards, latest riding arrangements, non-runners and betting news.
▪ Republicans won all the big races last week.
▪ It was there that he rode Evichstar in the Lincoln Handicap in 1990 - and notched his first big race victory.
▪ And the Grand National, first run on Feb. 26, 1839, is the biggest race of all.
▪ The Upsons have sent out over 150 winners from their home and are not overawed by the big race.
▪ The World Championships was my first time in a big race, and I ran too far.
▪ She's the sort of filly who deserves a big race win for she has been knocking on the door all season.
screen
▪ The real Erik died more than 1,000 years ago, but he was recently resurrected on the big screen by Terry Jones.
▪ The only thing less suited to the big screen would be a movie set in a bomb shelter.
▪ At the advanced age of 71, Charles Bronson's wizened features are returning to the big screen.
▪ Louis to put up on the big screens.
▪ People sit silently, faced forward toward a big screen.
▪ Andrew himself is no stranger to the big screen and has featured in several commercials.
▪ Last fall the only playwright to make it on to the big screen was Shakespeare.
step
▪ That is a big step forward, because parents will then be able to use examination results to challenge schools to improve.
▪ The Halifax's strategic approach is most clearly shown in two big steps it did not take.
▪ This manager said he had made a big step.
▪ The 9% buyer's premium is a big step in the right direction.
▪ I had to take many big steps to stay with him, and still fell behind.
▪ This was going to be a big step.
▪ It was the first and biggest step in changing the council from a legislative body to a rubber stamp for his administration.
thing
▪ That's the big thing about Butch.
▪ Perhaps the biggest thing going was the harp played by JoAnn Turovsky, sounding positively, well, huge.
▪ It is visible in big things and small.
▪ He said welfare reform would be the next big thing.
▪ The big thing I see students gaining is commitment.
▪ His big thing though was his piano theory.
▪ But Weinke, as his numbers prove, has done all of the big things for the Seminoles.
time
▪ And she has a habit: smoking, big time, as in two packs a day.
▪ There have been many cases in which encryption has thwarted us big time.
▪ Don King is looking for a return to the big time with Tucker, who will be a tough opponent.
▪ The rich, including corporations, are involved big time in helping the poor.
▪ We were both pretty excited about visiting Saigon, country boys coming in to see the big time.
▪ So what's it like for young David to be in the big time.
▪ His program comes off as being big time.
trouble
▪ And I shall be in big trouble if I return alone.
▪ Down by as much as 25 percent in polls, in power for 18 years, the Conservatives are in big trouble.
▪ Despite that, many in the industry reckon Daimler's biggest troubles may still be ahead.
▪ Although he was in big trouble three of the five innings he pitched, Kamieniecki kept putting zeroes on the board.
▪ Landed herself in big trouble in the Bay, but managed to get out of it.
▪ Payroll taxes get you into trouble, and withheld payroll taxes get you into big trouble.
▪ The club was in big trouble then, on the playing front and financially.
▪ If the dam broke, the village would be in big big trouble.
way
▪ National, Rickenbacker, Gibson and a hundred other manufacturers all went for lap-steel production in a big way.
▪ Once considered an ethnic food, bagels have gone mainstream in a big way.
▪ With the breakdown of the administration, crime syndicates have come up in a big way.
▪ But his baseball career has been resurrected in a big way this season.
▪ Glascoed has been steadily gearing up its operations in bigger ways, too.
▪ Way back, something went bad in a big way.
▪ Many based on tried and trusted therapies heal the mind as well as the body and are back in fashion in a big way.
▪ If I commit something in a big way and it turns out wrong, it will hurt my career....
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
(get) a bigger/better etc bang for your buck
Mr Big
a big ask
a big fish in a little/small pond
a big hand
▪ Both policies got a big hand.
▪ When Tilbey had finished his presentation, Brown got up and asked the thirteen students to give him a big hand.
a big head
▪ He described the assailant as a tall man with a big head and bushy hair.
a/the big wheel
▪ Ahead of them, they could see the Big Wheel turning against a sky streaked with red and grey.
▪ Back down the beach, the Big Wheel was turning and there were even queues waiting to get on.
▪ Because this was the contraption's trial run, it was to be driven manually by turning the big wheel.
▪ He was a big wheel in Bucharest Securitate, Mr Manescu.
▪ He was sitting in the little hut where you bought your tickets to get on to the Big Wheel.
▪ The boys then allegedly put the infant on another bed and fled with the Big Wheel, police said.
▪ They came to steal a Big Wheel tricycle.
▪ You will also catch a glimpse of the Big Wheel in the famous Peter fairground.
and it's a big if
as important/clear/big etc as anything
▪ Ecumenically it is as important as anything.
big mouth
▪ And to have a big mouth to project.
▪ But I kept my big mouth shut.
▪ Director Jafar Panahi clearly loves children for what they are, big mouths and all.
▪ I generally think of sushi as bite-sized, but at Sushi-Cho you need a big mouth to eat your sushi without embarrassment.
▪ If Britain is a body then Essex is the botty and Barnsley's the great big mouth.
▪ The final proof, or perhaps the first, is the chub's big mouth and thick white rubbery lips.
▪ To her sisters, she is simply a big mouth.
big shot
▪ a meeting of insurance-industry big shots
▪ Among Western Conference big shots, only San Antonio seems trouble-free right now.
▪ And they used to race some of the big shots in New Bedford.
▪ He will be a big shot one day, she thinks.
▪ I gave my opinion but, of course, it was a big shot so early in the game.
▪ Malone, however, choked when it came to making his two biggest shots of the game.
▪ This is a matter between the big shots.
▪ You see, all the artists wanted to be big shots.
big-bottomed/round-bottomed etc
big/light/fussy etc eater
▪ During the time she was living with the Abramses, Katelyn was happy and a big eater, Carter said.
▪ While never a big eater, he did tend to snack it through the day and night.
big/top gun
▪ All the big guns are through to the semi-finals as expected.
▪ He won't be the last big gun brought out in the battle for Stockton South.
▪ In Houston, many of the big gun shops have opted to police themselves.
▪ In part two: Showdown: Soccer's big guns prepare for a shootout.
▪ Lincoln brought in the big guns of William Temple to get bishop and rector to release the curate before the time.
▪ There was a tank with a big gun on it.
▪ They leaned into their big guns, shoulders twitching.
black-bellied/fat-bellied/big-bellied etc
dirty great/dirty big
easily the best/biggest etc
▪ Aluminium benching is easily the best, as it virtually lasts for ever and is easily cleaned.
▪ He's easily the best military brain in the country.
▪ It's easily the best Fermanagh side I've played on.
▪ It gave easily the best value.
▪ Johnny Hero played the between set music - again proving that he hosts easily the best disco in town.
▪ Natural gas forms easily the biggest world reserve of methane-rich fuel.
▪ The greens were easily the best part of the dish.
▪ The pension is easily the biggest single cash benefit.
even bigger/better/brighter etc
▪ But he actually proved even better than I thought.
▪ He had hoped to play an even bigger, more traditional role.
▪ I sort of thought the accident would make us play even better.
▪ It was even better when I got a hug and a kiss from the former Miss Minnesota!
▪ Many companies do so because smart managers know the importance of rewarding good work and inspiring even better efforts.
▪ There was something spontaneous and lively in his manner of speaking that made whatever he was saying sound even better.
▪ This show will be even better than the last one and is not to be missed!
▪ What is the best way of stemming this decline or, even better, of regenerating the economy?
half as much/big etc
▪ A TU154 weighs a third more and consumes half as much fuel again as its Western equivalent, the Boeing 727.
▪ Even allowing for O'Donovan doing half as much business, this would mean 3000 tonnes of toxic waste leaving Ireland a year.
▪ He will not worry about the quality if he does half as much on Saturday.
▪ The fly therefore produces half as much sperm as normal.
▪ The safety mattress also produced only half as much carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide.
▪ These kids only have half as much cerebral cortex as is normal.
▪ They looked like equine stock, but they were half as big again as any horse that Rostov had ever encountered.
half as much/big etc again
▪ But cars are about half as much again as in Britain.
▪ But Catherine, 31, and 56-year-old Fatal Attraction star Michael spent more than half as much again.
▪ In school we are spending nearly half as much again, in real terms per pupil, as in 1979.
▪ Social Progress Health spending is half as much again as it was in 1979, after taking account of inflation.
▪ The Government is spending over half as much again more than Labour did when they were last in power.
▪ The line shot out, half as much again.
▪ They looked like equine stock, but they were half as big again as any horse that Rostov had ever encountered.
▪ This is half as much again as last year.
have eyes bigger than your belly
have other/bigger fish to fry
▪ I can't deal with this now - I've got other fish to fry.
hit the big time
▪ But his interest in the farm grew, even after he hit the big time.
▪ I know he talked to her about what it was like before Jett hit the big time.
▪ Sandier hits the big time as the loveable three killer sharks to increase their brain mass.
▪ Still, even session men can hit the big time.
in a big/small way
▪ Way back, something went bad in a big way.
▪ Actors are getting paid more than their worth all over Hollywood right now, and in a big way.
▪ But his baseball career has been resurrected in a big way this season.
▪ But I think we blew it in a big way.
▪ Colorado has taken to the sport in a big way.
▪ His ambulance service has taken off in a big way.
▪ I began to prepare in a small way to enjoy the Christmas in Bedford.
▪ This is something he has carried in a big way into his later professional life.
just as good/bad/big etc
▪ And you men and half of Terminus as well are just as bad.
▪ At home it was just as bad.
▪ I would say the top teams are just as good, but the lesser teams have caught up a little bit.
▪ It was just as good a place as any to get away from Julius for a while.
▪ Now Allan Ahlberg has written two more stories about the same skeletons, and they're just as good.
▪ Or something else, just as bad, could happen.
▪ People accuse the whites of being prejudiced, but blacks can be just as bad.
▪ Virginia says sending them to a sister training program it has established at nearby Mary Baldwin College is just as good.
make a big deal of/out of/about sth
▪ But Vassar taught me that I could do whatever I wanted to do without making a big deal out of it.
make a big thing of/about/out of sth
▪ It was Arbor Day, and their teacher, Miss Ellis, made a big thing out of it.
me and my big mouth/you and your big mouth etc
next biggest/most common etc
not so big/good/bad etc
▪ But so happen, one little boy not so good.
▪ But it's not so bad down here.
▪ Compared to how I feel, how I look is not so bad.
▪ It is not so good at knowing how to do it.
▪ My tongue not so good anyway.
▪ She began to think that perhaps village life was not so bad.
▪ Some years it was bad, other years not so bad.
▪ When he was hot, he was hot, but for me the whole thing was not so good.
plenty big/fast/warm etc enough
the Big Dipper
▪ Gedanken wondered whether anyone ever fell off the Big Dipper.
▪ He made another friend, which was the Big Dipper.
▪ I can find the Big Dipper, but the North Star can be elusive.
▪ I put the stretcher under my arm and walked off toward the Big Dipper, in the direction of the tent.
▪ That's what you spotted on the Big Dipper.
▪ The black silhouettes of the maples showed against the sky near the Big Dipper, almost overhead.
the best/biggest etc ... of all time
▪ And seeing as it was my brainchild, would you not say it was possibly the best commercial of all time?
▪ Surely the biggest robbery of all time was the $ 900m that the Dome stole from lottery funds?
▪ That's the biggest understatement of all time!
▪ You could call that round the biggest fluke of all time....
the best/biggest etc ... this side of sth
the big bang theory
the big enchilada
▪ The big enchilada is the U.S. Supreme Court, and we're going to go there and win.
▪ We're aiming our products at the big enchilada - the home computer market.
the big screen
▪ Filmmakers are hoping to bring several of Sandlin's works to the big screen.
▪ Her play was adapted for the big screen.
▪ Andrew himself is no stranger to the big screen and has featured in several commercials.
▪ Arnold Schwarzenegger, man of action and few words on the big screen.
▪ Rosheen watched as Postine came into view on the big screen, her massive frame picked out in infra-red against the night.
▪ The only thing less suited to the big screen would be a movie set in a bomb shelter.
▪ We watched it on the big screen.
the big time
▪ He played in clubs for years before making it to the big time.
the biggest/tallest/most expensive etc ... on earth
the biggest/worst etc (sth) yet
▪ And the worst was yet to come.
▪ Her third night here and it had been the worst one yet.
▪ No, the worst ... Yet is she listening now?
▪ That was the worst task yet, as Psyche saw when she approached the waterfall.
▪ The decision opens the biggest policy rift yet between Holyrood and Westminster.
▪ The two have returned from a disastrous holiday in Greecebut the worst is yet to come.
the sooner the better/the bigger the better etc
think big
▪ By investing over $1.2 million, Levin and his partner are thinking big.
▪ A big man physically, he thought big.
▪ Do you need to think big or to pay a lot of attention to detail?
▪ He pressed on, thinking big, planning the largest electric furnace in the world.
▪ I always encouraged Alvin to think big.
▪ In an era of government downsizing, Texas is thinking big.
▪ It arose in the context of the thinking of people whose job it is to think big.
▪ Maybe he thinks big bad Deane will help if things get too rough!
▪ To trade in a heavyweight world market Britain must think big.
what's the big idea?
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ "Which is your car?" "The big red one next to the wall."
▪ a big difference in price
▪ a big tree
▪ Germany is much bigger than Britain.
▪ Graduation Day is one of those big occasions when everyone wants a souvenir photograph.
▪ He lives in a big house in upstate New York.
▪ I've never been a big jazz fan.
▪ I hear you're getting married - when's the big day?
▪ If you think I'm coming with you, you're making a big mistake.
▪ It's a simple repair that can prevent a big problem later.
▪ It's going to be a big adjustment for the kids whenever we move.
▪ one of the biggest companies in the insurance business
▪ She's a cute baby with a big smile.
▪ She struggled up the hill, carrying the baby and her big black bag.
▪ The city has a big problem with drugs.
▪ The game works better if you have a bigger group.
▪ The nearest big town is twenty miles away.
▪ The wind got louder and the waves grew bigger and bigger.
▪ There will be some big changes in the way we work.
▪ These jeans are too big.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ But this face was bigger; swollen and bigger still than the horror in the car.
▪ From these particular big systems I have appropriated unifying principles for all large vivisystems.
▪ If the warren system is a big one it may require two guns to do the killing.
▪ In fact, despite the dismal fundamentals, some of the biggest petroleum producers will record double-digit percentage increases in spending.
▪ This rotative engine soon became greatly in demand and had a big effect on the mechanisation of factories.
▪ To attract bigger audiences was not just a bonus, it was part of the whole logic of the industry.
II.verb
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
(get) a bigger/better etc bang for your buck
Mr Big
a big ask
a big fish in a little/small pond
a big hand
▪ Both policies got a big hand.
▪ When Tilbey had finished his presentation, Brown got up and asked the thirteen students to give him a big hand.
a big head
▪ He described the assailant as a tall man with a big head and bushy hair.
a/the big wheel
▪ Ahead of them, they could see the Big Wheel turning against a sky streaked with red and grey.
▪ Back down the beach, the Big Wheel was turning and there were even queues waiting to get on.
▪ Because this was the contraption's trial run, it was to be driven manually by turning the big wheel.
▪ He was a big wheel in Bucharest Securitate, Mr Manescu.
▪ He was sitting in the little hut where you bought your tickets to get on to the Big Wheel.
▪ The boys then allegedly put the infant on another bed and fled with the Big Wheel, police said.
▪ They came to steal a Big Wheel tricycle.
▪ You will also catch a glimpse of the Big Wheel in the famous Peter fairground.
and it's a big if
as important/clear/big etc as anything
▪ Ecumenically it is as important as anything.
big mouth
▪ And to have a big mouth to project.
▪ But I kept my big mouth shut.
▪ Director Jafar Panahi clearly loves children for what they are, big mouths and all.
▪ I generally think of sushi as bite-sized, but at Sushi-Cho you need a big mouth to eat your sushi without embarrassment.
▪ If Britain is a body then Essex is the botty and Barnsley's the great big mouth.
▪ The final proof, or perhaps the first, is the chub's big mouth and thick white rubbery lips.
▪ To her sisters, she is simply a big mouth.
big shot
▪ a meeting of insurance-industry big shots
▪ Among Western Conference big shots, only San Antonio seems trouble-free right now.
▪ And they used to race some of the big shots in New Bedford.
▪ He will be a big shot one day, she thinks.
▪ I gave my opinion but, of course, it was a big shot so early in the game.
▪ Malone, however, choked when it came to making his two biggest shots of the game.
▪ This is a matter between the big shots.
▪ You see, all the artists wanted to be big shots.
big-bottomed/round-bottomed etc
big/light/fussy etc eater
▪ During the time she was living with the Abramses, Katelyn was happy and a big eater, Carter said.
▪ While never a big eater, he did tend to snack it through the day and night.
big/top gun
▪ All the big guns are through to the semi-finals as expected.
▪ He won't be the last big gun brought out in the battle for Stockton South.
▪ In Houston, many of the big gun shops have opted to police themselves.
▪ In part two: Showdown: Soccer's big guns prepare for a shootout.
▪ Lincoln brought in the big guns of William Temple to get bishop and rector to release the curate before the time.
▪ There was a tank with a big gun on it.
▪ They leaned into their big guns, shoulders twitching.
black-bellied/fat-bellied/big-bellied etc
dirty great/dirty big
easily the best/biggest etc
▪ Aluminium benching is easily the best, as it virtually lasts for ever and is easily cleaned.
▪ He's easily the best military brain in the country.
▪ It's easily the best Fermanagh side I've played on.
▪ It gave easily the best value.
▪ Johnny Hero played the between set music - again proving that he hosts easily the best disco in town.
▪ Natural gas forms easily the biggest world reserve of methane-rich fuel.
▪ The greens were easily the best part of the dish.
▪ The pension is easily the biggest single cash benefit.
even bigger/better/brighter etc
▪ But he actually proved even better than I thought.
▪ He had hoped to play an even bigger, more traditional role.
▪ I sort of thought the accident would make us play even better.
▪ It was even better when I got a hug and a kiss from the former Miss Minnesota!
▪ Many companies do so because smart managers know the importance of rewarding good work and inspiring even better efforts.
▪ There was something spontaneous and lively in his manner of speaking that made whatever he was saying sound even better.
▪ This show will be even better than the last one and is not to be missed!
▪ What is the best way of stemming this decline or, even better, of regenerating the economy?
great big
▪ A great big eel, one day, swam past and touched her.
▪ And great big chunks of the current Libertarian Party movement contain a horde of former left-wing nuts who are now Libertarian nuts.
▪ I like the man who's playing this great big shiny thing like a fog horn.
▪ I mean, look at what Hendrix had for pedals - just a Fuzz Face and a great big stack of Marshalls.
▪ In the silence that followed, Baby Suggs, holy, offered up to them her great big heart.
▪ It was that little noise and a great big hug that let me know that you were very proud of me.
▪ My mouth watered as I looked at those great big berries.
▪ Well now, one surely would have thought that for such little things those great big waves might have seemed threatening.
half as much/big etc
▪ A TU154 weighs a third more and consumes half as much fuel again as its Western equivalent, the Boeing 727.
▪ Even allowing for O'Donovan doing half as much business, this would mean 3000 tonnes of toxic waste leaving Ireland a year.
▪ He will not worry about the quality if he does half as much on Saturday.
▪ The fly therefore produces half as much sperm as normal.
▪ The safety mattress also produced only half as much carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide.
▪ These kids only have half as much cerebral cortex as is normal.
▪ They looked like equine stock, but they were half as big again as any horse that Rostov had ever encountered.
half as much/big etc again
▪ But cars are about half as much again as in Britain.
▪ But Catherine, 31, and 56-year-old Fatal Attraction star Michael spent more than half as much again.
▪ In school we are spending nearly half as much again, in real terms per pupil, as in 1979.
▪ Social Progress Health spending is half as much again as it was in 1979, after taking account of inflation.
▪ The Government is spending over half as much again more than Labour did when they were last in power.
▪ The line shot out, half as much again.
▪ They looked like equine stock, but they were half as big again as any horse that Rostov had ever encountered.
▪ This is half as much again as last year.
have eyes bigger than your belly
have other/bigger fish to fry
▪ I can't deal with this now - I've got other fish to fry.
in a big/small way
▪ Way back, something went bad in a big way.
▪ Actors are getting paid more than their worth all over Hollywood right now, and in a big way.
▪ But his baseball career has been resurrected in a big way this season.
▪ But I think we blew it in a big way.
▪ Colorado has taken to the sport in a big way.
▪ His ambulance service has taken off in a big way.
▪ I began to prepare in a small way to enjoy the Christmas in Bedford.
▪ This is something he has carried in a big way into his later professional life.
just as good/bad/big etc
▪ And you men and half of Terminus as well are just as bad.
▪ At home it was just as bad.
▪ I would say the top teams are just as good, but the lesser teams have caught up a little bit.
▪ It was just as good a place as any to get away from Julius for a while.
▪ Now Allan Ahlberg has written two more stories about the same skeletons, and they're just as good.
▪ Or something else, just as bad, could happen.
▪ People accuse the whites of being prejudiced, but blacks can be just as bad.
▪ Virginia says sending them to a sister training program it has established at nearby Mary Baldwin College is just as good.
low-budget/big-budget
make a big deal of/out of/about sth
▪ But Vassar taught me that I could do whatever I wanted to do without making a big deal out of it.
make a big thing of/about/out of sth
▪ It was Arbor Day, and their teacher, Miss Ellis, made a big thing out of it.
me and my big mouth/you and your big mouth etc
next biggest/most common etc
not so big/good/bad etc
▪ But so happen, one little boy not so good.
▪ But it's not so bad down here.
▪ Compared to how I feel, how I look is not so bad.
▪ It is not so good at knowing how to do it.
▪ My tongue not so good anyway.
▪ She began to think that perhaps village life was not so bad.
▪ Some years it was bad, other years not so bad.
▪ When he was hot, he was hot, but for me the whole thing was not so good.
plenty big/fast/warm etc enough
the (big) wide world
▪ Filipe is not alone in the wider world, where 13m children are displaced within their own countries.
▪ Hardly anybody in the big wide world has heard of us, let alone been influenced by our lives.
▪ He knows little about economics or the wider world.
▪ In other words we want to help local enthusiasts to keep in touch with what is happening in the wider world of railways.
▪ Many children of leading ministers took advantage of the wider world their fathers' success had opened for them.
▪ We could certainly be a stronger presence in the wider world.
▪ Wealth and power go hand in hand, at home too, as well as in the big wide world.
the Big Dipper
▪ Gedanken wondered whether anyone ever fell off the Big Dipper.
▪ He made another friend, which was the Big Dipper.
▪ I can find the Big Dipper, but the North Star can be elusive.
▪ I put the stretcher under my arm and walked off toward the Big Dipper, in the direction of the tent.
▪ That's what you spotted on the Big Dipper.
▪ The black silhouettes of the maples showed against the sky near the Big Dipper, almost overhead.
the best/biggest etc ... of all time
▪ And seeing as it was my brainchild, would you not say it was possibly the best commercial of all time?
▪ Surely the biggest robbery of all time was the $ 900m that the Dome stole from lottery funds?
▪ That's the biggest understatement of all time!
▪ You could call that round the biggest fluke of all time....
the best/biggest etc ... this side of sth
the best/biggest/fastest etc possible
▪ Any successful entrepreneurial venture starts with making sure that the entrepreneur is in the best possible mental and physical health.
▪ But the psychologist was never confident that he had obtained the best possible scores from Nelson.
▪ For a moment, I imagined the best possible to the worst possible reply.
▪ Obviously, the purpose is to ensure that the best possible pensions arrangements are reached.
▪ That way it will have the best possible start in life.
▪ The additional value farmers receive is the best possible free advice on both inputs and marketing.
▪ The horrifying news sent the Ciprianos on a nationwide search to find the best possible treatment for their daughter.
▪ This at once enhances the contribution which the court or parents can make towards reaching the best possible decision in all the circumstances.
the big bang theory
the big enchilada
▪ The big enchilada is the U.S. Supreme Court, and we're going to go there and win.
▪ We're aiming our products at the big enchilada - the home computer market.
the big screen
▪ Filmmakers are hoping to bring several of Sandlin's works to the big screen.
▪ Her play was adapted for the big screen.
▪ Andrew himself is no stranger to the big screen and has featured in several commercials.
▪ Arnold Schwarzenegger, man of action and few words on the big screen.
▪ Rosheen watched as Postine came into view on the big screen, her massive frame picked out in infra-red against the night.
▪ The only thing less suited to the big screen would be a movie set in a bomb shelter.
▪ We watched it on the big screen.
the big time
▪ He played in clubs for years before making it to the big time.
the biggest/best/nicest etc sth going
▪ A few hundred metres off-shore we congregate so that Tor can explain the best way of going ashore.
▪ Are the best bargains going to petrol buyers?
▪ But in those years, they were always the team with the best record going into the playoffs.
▪ Its got to be the best ticket office going.
▪ Perhaps the biggest thing going was the harp played by JoAnn Turovsky, sounding positively, well, huge.
▪ There was a wide range of scores with the best individual score going to George McCallum of Douglas Reyburn with 37 points.
▪ This, so I was led to believe, was the best it was going to get.
▪ What is the best way of going forward? - Ideas from within I hear you say!
the biggest/tallest/most expensive etc ... on earth
the biggest/worst etc (sth) yet
▪ And the worst was yet to come.
▪ Her third night here and it had been the worst one yet.
▪ No, the worst ... Yet is she listening now?
▪ That was the worst task yet, as Psyche saw when she approached the waterfall.
▪ The decision opens the biggest policy rift yet between Holyrood and Westminster.
▪ The two have returned from a disastrous holiday in Greecebut the worst is yet to come.
the single biggest/greatest etc
▪ Drug overdoses have become the single biggest killer among the city's young people.
▪ For the single greatest cultural movement of the twentieth century is the rise and global hegemony of black music.
▪ It represented the single biggest step towards the creation of the international air agreements of today.
▪ It was the single greatest revelation of his religious life.
▪ The survey showed that consumer concern about the economy was the single biggest factor affecting the building business in 1993.
▪ This is the single biggest thing we could do to reduce costs.
the sooner the better/the bigger the better etc
what's the big idea?
Related phrases:
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Big

Big \Big\ (b[i^]g), a. [Compar. Bigger; superl. Biggest.] [Perh. from Celtic; cf. W. beichiog, beichiawg, pregnant, with child, fr. baich burden, Arm. beac'h; or cf. OE. bygly, Icel. biggiligr, (properly) habitable; (then) magnigicent, excellent, fr. OE. biggen, Icel. byggja, to dwell, build, akin to E. be.]

  1. Having largeness of size; of much bulk or magnitude; of great size; large. ``He's too big to go in there.''
    --Shak.

  2. Great with young; pregnant; swelling; ready to give birth or produce; -- often figuratively.

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

  3. Having greatness, fullness, importance, inflation, distention, etc., whether in a good or a bad sense; as, a big heart; a big voice; big looks; to look big. As applied to looks, it indicates haughtiness or pride.

    God hath not in heaven a bigger argument.
    --Jer. Taylor.

    Note: Big is often used in self-explaining compounds; as, big-boned; big-sounding; big-named; big-voiced.

    To talk big, to talk loudly, arrogantly, or pretentiously.

    I talked big to them at first.
    --De Foe.

    Syn: Bulky; large; great; massive; gross.

Big

Big \Big\, Bigg \Bigg\, n. [OE. bif, bigge; akin to Icel. bygg, Dan. byg, Sw. bjugg.] (Bot.) Barley, especially the hardy four-rowed kind.

``Bear interchanges in local use, now with barley, now with bigg.''
--New English Dict.

Big

Big \Big\, Bigg \Bigg\, v. t. [OE. biggen, fr. Icel. byggja to inhabit, to build, b?a (neut.) to dwell (active) to make ready. See Boor, and Bound.] To build. [Scot. & North of Eng. Dial.]
--Sir W. Scott. [1913 Webster] ||

Related phrases:
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
big

c.1300, northern England dialect, "powerful, strong," of obscure origin, possibly from a Scandinavian source (compare Norwegian dialectal bugge "great man"). Old English used micel in many of the same senses. Meaning "of great size" is late 14c.; that of "grown up" is attested from 1550s. Sense of "important" is from 1570s. Meaning "generous" is U.S. colloquial by 1913.\n

\nBig band as a musical style is from 1926. Slang big head "conceit" is first recorded 1850. Big business "large commercial firms collectively" is 1905; big house "penitentiary" is U.S. underworld slang first attested 1915 (in London, "a workhouse," 1851). In financial journalism, big ticket items so called from 1956. Big lie is from Hitler's grosse Lüge.

Related phrases:
Wiktionary
big

n. A biological insulation garment; an air-tight, full-body suit intended to prevent the spread of contaminants.

Related phrases:
WordNet
big

  1. adj. above average in size or number or quantity or magnitude or extent; "a large city"; "set out for the big city"; "a large sum"; "a big (or large) barn"; "a large family"; "big businesses"; "a big expenditure"; "a large number of newspapers"; "a big group of scientists"; "large areas of the world" [syn: large] [ant: small, small]

  2. significant; "graduation was a big day in his life"

  3. of very great significance; "deciding to drop the atom bomb was a very big decision"; "a momentous event" [syn: momentous]

  4. conspicuous in position or importance; "a big figure in the movement"; "big man on campus"; "he's very large in financial circles"; "a prominent citizen" [syn: large, prominent]

  5. very intense; "a bad headache"; "in a big rage"; "had a big (or bad) shock"; "a bad earthquake"; "a bad storm" [syn: bad]

  6. loud and firm; "a big voice"; "big bold piano sounds"

  7. prodigious; "big spender"; "big eater"; "heavy investor" [syn: big(a), heavy(a)]

  8. (of animals) fully developed; "an adult animal"; "a grown woman" [syn: adult, full-grown, fully grown, grown, grownup]

  9. marked by intense physical force; "a big wind"

  10. feeling self-importance; "too big for his britches"; "had a swelled head"; "he was swelled with pride" [syn: swelled, vainglorious]

  11. older brother or sister; "big sister" [syn: big(a), elder, older] [ant: little(a)]

  12. exhibiting self-importance; "big talk" [syn: boastful, braggart(a), bragging(a), braggy, cock-a-hoop, crowing, self-aggrandizing, self-aggrandising]

  13. generous and understanding and tolerant; "a heart big enough to hold no grudges"; "that's very big of you to be so forgiving"; "a large and generous spirit"; "a large heart"; "magnanimous toward his enemies" [syn: large, magnanimous]

  14. given or giving freely; "was a big tipper"; "the bounteous goodness of God"; "bountiful compliments"; "a freehanded host"; "a handsome allowance"; "Saturday's child is loving and giving"; "a liberal backer of the arts"; "a munificent gift"; "her fond and openhanded grandfather" [syn: bighearted, bounteous, bountiful, freehanded, handsome, giving, liberal, openhanded]

  15. in an advanced stage of pregnancy; "was big with child"; "was great with child" [syn: big(p), enceinte, expectant, gravid, great(p), large(p), heavy(p), with child(p)]

  16. [also: biggest, bigger]

big

  1. adv. extremely well; "his performance went over big"

  2. in a boastful manner; "he talked big all evening" [syn: boastfully, vauntingly, large]

  3. on a grand scale; "think big" [ant: small]

  4. in a major way; "the play failed big at the box office"

  5. [also: biggest, bigger]

Related phrases:
Gazetteer
Related phrases:
Wikipedia
Big

Big means large or of great size.

Big or BIG may also refer to:

Big (Dead Letter Circus song)

"Big" is the first single by Australian rock band Dead Letter Circus from their debut studio album This Is the Warning. It is the band's fifth single overall, following " The Space on the Wall", " Next in Line", " Reaction", and "Disconnect and Apply". Two of the aforementioned singles, "Next in Line" and "Reaction", are to be featured on This Is the Warning, but "Big" is the first official single from the album.

Big (album)

Big is the fourth studio album by American singer and songwriter Macy Gray, released on March 21, 2007 by Geffen Records. It is Gray's first studio album in four years. The album debuted at number 39 on the US Billboard 200, selling 23,000 copies in its first week.

Three singles were released from the album: " Finally Made Me Happy" (a collaboration with Natalie Cole), " Shoo Be Doo", and "What I Gotta Do". The latter was included on the Shrek the Third soundtrack. Music from this album was also featured in the I Love New York season one reunion. The album's cover art was widely illustrated on iPhone ads and featured on the first boxes of the iPod Touch.

Big (Sneaky Sound System song)

Big is the second single to be taken from Australian dance-duo Sneaky Sound System.

Big (TV series)

Big is a 2012 South Korean television series starring Gong Yoo and Lee Min-jung. The romantic comedy/ body swap series aired on KBS2 from June 4 to July 24, 2012 on Mondays and Tuesdays at 21:55 for 16 episodes.

Written by the Hong Sisters, Big was Gong Yoo's first television series after The 1st Shop of Coffee Prince in 2007 and since being discharged from mandatory military service. He played 18-year-old Kang Kyung-joon, who finds himself trapped in the body of 30-year-old pediatrician Seo Yoon-jae.

Big (film)

Big is a 1988 American fantasy comedy film directed by Penny Marshall, and stars Tom Hanks as Josh Baskin, a young boy who makes a wish "to be big" and is then aged to adulthood overnight. The film also stars Elizabeth Perkins, John Heard, and Robert Loggia and was written by Gary Ross and Anne Spielberg.

Big (video gamer)

Terry Chuong, better known as BIG is an American player who is currently a support for Echo Fox of the North American League of Legends Championship Series (NA LCS). He has been previously known as both Baby and Babyeator.

Related phrases:

Usage examples of "big".

Kuhmbuhluhners on their big horses, aided and abetted, if the tales of the fugitives were to be believed, by bearded Ahrmehnee warriors and even Moon Maidens.

Leaving the cripple ablaze, settling, and pouring volcanic black smoke from the flammable cargo, he swung around in a long approach to what looked like a big troop Carrier, by far the fattest target in sight.

There were several women delegates and Ken made the most of their ablutions until he was distracted by the appearance of Karanja in a neat grey suit, an ingratiating grin on his face and his big ears standing out like sails.

Oswald Brunies, the strutting, candy-sucking teacher -- a monument will be erected to him -- to him with magnifying glass on elastic, with sticky bag in sticky coat pocket, to him who collected big stones and little stones, rare pebbles, preferably mica gneiss -- muscovy biotite -- quartz, feldspar, and hornblende, who picked up pebbles, examined them, rejected or kept them, to him the big Playground of the Conradinum was not an abrasive stumbling block but a lasting invitation to scratch about with the tip of his shoe after nine rooster steps.

I liked the way the hem of her dress flapped over her legs, the dust coming aburst like a big gray flower all around her.

This building abuts on the water, and there, in the clear depth, they could see big, blue sharks laying for the offal that is thrown from the slaughter house.

It was all a great big carnival freak show The federal government was the Man with One Hundred Arms, and Glenn Abies was the barker.

New Orleans, simply clothed in homespun cotton striped red and blue, abysmally poor and surrounded by swarms of children who all seemed to bear names like Nono and Vev6 and Bibi, cheerfully selling powdered file and alligator hides and going away again without bothering, like the Americans did, to sample the delights of the big city.

The bigger the acceleration that the drives produce, the closer to the disk we move the living-capsule up the central column here.

Without accelerators capable of producing Planck-scale energies, we will increasingly have to rely on the cosmological accelerator of the big bang, and the relics it has left for us throughout the universe, for our experimental data.

Then, blundering about and bellowing like a wounded rhino, he staggered out front and shoveled a big sluiceway in the recently patched ditch bank, allowing almost the entire acequia flow to cascade into his already soggy front vega.

Kailipso Admin, realizing that it would need to expand quarters to support increased population, got clever--or desperate--or both--and went wooing the big Liaden Guilds, like the Traders and the Pilots, and got them to go in for sector offices on Kailipso.

Look for them, canned in adobo sauce, in the Mexican foods section of big grocery stores.

Because clutter is a big factor in determining the viability of an advertising medium, it pays to look at the where your advertisement is placed.

Of course, an aerial warship will have to be big, for it will have to carry extra machinery to give it extra speed, and it will have to carry a certain armament, and a large crew will be needed.