Big, a. [compar. Bigger; superl. Biggest.]
Etymology: [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.
1 more senses
Syn. -- Bulky; large; great; massive; gross.
2 other Webster entries under this spelling
Big, Bigg, n.
(Bot.)
Barley, especially the hardy four-rowed kind. "Bear interchanges in local use, now with barley, now with bigg." New English Dict.
Big, Bigg, v. t.
To build. [Scot. & North of Eng. Dial.] Sir W. Scott.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for big; he lists it under large.
Where he writes about it:
Big is a more emphatic word than large, but of less dignity. — from large
We do not say that George Washington was a big man. — from large