Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Wiktionary
n. (alternative form of big business English)
WordNet
n. commercial enterprises organized and financed on a scale large enough to influence social and political policies; "big business is growing so powerful it is difficult to regulate it effectively"
Wikipedia
Big business involves large-scale corporate-controlled financial or business activities. As a term, it describes activities that run from "huge transactions" to the more general "doing big things". The concept first arose in a symbolic sense after 1880 in connection with the combination movement that began in American business at that time. United States corporations that fall into the category of "big business" include ExxonMobil, Wal-Mart, Google, Microsoft, Apple, General Electric, General Motors, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase. The largest German corporations included Daimler AG, Deutsche Telekom, Siemens and Deutsche Bank. Among the largest companies in the United Kingdom are HSBC, Barclays, WPP plc and BP. The latter half of the 19th century saw more technological advances and corporate growth in additional sectors, such as petroleum, machinery, chemicals, and electrical equipment. (See Second Industrial Revolution.)
Big Business is a 1929 silent Laurel and Hardy comedy short subject directed by James W. Horne and supervised by Leo McCarey from a McCarey (uncredited) and H. M. Walker script. The film, largely about tit-for-tat vandalism between Laurel and Hardy as Christmas tree salesmen and the man who rejects them, was deemed culturally significant and entered into the National Film Registry in 1992.
Big Business is a 1988 American comedy film starring Bette Midler and Lily Tomlin (each playing two roles). The movie revolves around two sets of identical female twins who were mismatched at birth, with one ending in a wealthy urban family (the Sheltons) and the other in a poor rural family (the Ratliffs). It was produced by Touchstone Pictures, with the plot loosely based on The Comedy of Errors (1589–1594) by William Shakespeare.
The film co-stars Fred Ward, Edward Herrmann and includes many guest roles including Joe Grifasi and Seth Green. Michael Gross and sister Mary Gross also appear. Directed by Jim Abrahams, critical reaction to the film as a whole was generally lukewarm. Midler received an American Comedy Award in the category Funniest Actress in a Motion Picture for her performance in 1989.
Big Business is a stoner metal/ sludge metal band from Seattle founded by Jared Warren ( Karp) and Coady Willis ( The Murder City Devils). Their sound has been characterized as a bombastic and frantic low end attack, marked by Warren's signature vocal delivery.
Big Business is a 1924 American short silent comedy film directed by Robert F. McGowan. It was the 22nd Our Gang short subject released.
Big Business is a 1930 British musical film directed by Oscar M. Sheridan and starring Frances Day, Barrie Oliver and Virginia Vaughan. It was made at the Twickenham Film Studios in London.
Big Business is a 1934 British comedy film directed by Cyril Gardner and starring Claude Hulbert, Eve Gray and Ernest Sefton. It was made at Teddington Studios as a quota quickie by the British subsidiary of Warner Brothers.
Big Business is a 1937 American comedy film directed by Frank R. Strayer and starring Jed Prouty, Shirley Deane and Spring Byington. It was part of Twentieth Century Fox's Jones Family series of films. The film's art direction was by Chester Gore.
The Jones Family invest in an oil well.
Big business is a pejorative term referring to the wielding of excessive power by large businesses.
Big Business may also refer to:
- Big Business (1924 film), an Our Gang short
- Big Business (1929 film), a Laurel and Hardy short
- Big Business (1930 film), a British comedy film
- Big Business (1934 film), a British comedy film directed by Cyril Gardner
- Big Business (1937 film), an American film
- Big Business (1988 film), a Bette Midler and Lily Tomlin film farce
- Big Business (band), a band from Seattle
- "Big Business", song from Three 6 Mafia's 1998 album CrazyNDaLazDayz
Usage examples of "big business".
He'd told me that he was dining with some of Yeltsin's personal staff that night, hoping to clinch a big business deal.
Space is already very big business indeed and it's going to get a lot bigger in the near future.
Was it because you did a big business in ivory and ostrich feathers, copper and skins and pearls and hammered gold ornaments, and other things from the coast of Kush?