subs. (popular).—A person of standing authority, or office. Variants are BIG-DOG, BIG-GUN, BIG-ONE (or BIG-UN), BIG-POT, BIG-TOAD, BIG-WIG, etc.
1819. T. MOORE, Tom Crib’s Memorial to Congress, 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! |
1825. C. M. WESTMACOTT, The English Spy, 255. Be unto him, as ye have been to all gownsmen from the beginning, ever ready to promote his wishes, whether for spree or sport, in term or 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.
1837. DICKENS, Oliver Twist, xliii. ‘We’ll have a BIG-WIG, Charley; one that’s got the greatest gift of the gab to carry on his defence.’… ‘What a game! what a regular game! All the BIG-WIGS trying to look solemn, and Jack Dawkins addressing of ’em as intimate and comfortable as if he was the judge’s own son making a speech arter dinner.’
1843. HALIBURTON (‘Sam Slick’), Sam Slick in England, xv. The GREAT GUNS and BIG BUGS have to take in each other’s ladies. Ibid., 24. Pick out the BIG BUGS and see what sort of stuff they’re made of.
1843. B. R. HALL (‘Robert Carlton’) The New Purchase, II., 140. [These preachurs] dress like BIG-BUGS, and go ridin about the Purchis on hunder-dollur hossis, a-spunginin on poor priest-riden folks and a-eaten fried chicken fixins so powerful fast that chickens has got skerse in these diggins.
1846. THACKERAY, Vanity Fair, 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. Ibid., Newcomes, xlvi. [Her] husband was a member of the Chamber of Deputies, a Conseiller d’État, or other French BIG-WIG.
1848. BARTLETT, Dictionary of Americanisms, 42. In some parts of the country, the principal man of a place or in an undertaking is called the BIG DOG WITH A BRASS COLLAR, as opposed to the little curs not thought worthy of a collar. Ibid., 42, BIGGEST TOAD IN THE PUDDLE. A Western expression for a head-man; a leader of a political party, or of a crowd. Not an elegant expression, though sometimes well applied. Thus a Western newspaper, in speaking of the most prominent man engaged in the political contest for one of the Presidential candidates before Congress, says: ‘Mr. D. D. F.—is the BIGGEST TOAD IN THE PUDDLE.’
1856. WHITCHER, The Widow Bedott Papers, 301. [Miss Samson Savage is] one o’ the BIG BUGS,—that is, she ’s got more money than a’ most any body else in town.
1859. H. KINGSLEY, Recollections of Geoffry Hamlyn, xlv. So you are going to sit among the BIG-WIGS in the House of Lords.
1857. New York Times, Feb. The free-and-easy manner in which the hair-brained Sir Robert Peel described some of the BIG BUGS at Moscow has got him into difficulty.
1872. DE VERE, Americanisms, 392. Persons of great wealth and distinction are irreverently called BIG BUGS, and I-street, in Washington, is thus said to be inhabited by the foreign ambassadors and other BIG BUGS. J. C. Neal makes a nice distinction when he says of a rich man without social importance: ‘He is one of your BIG BUGS, with more money than sense.’
c. 1876. Broadside Ballad, ‘Justice and Law.’ Unless, unexpected, some turn of the wrist. Has got some ‘BIG-WIG’ in a mess.
1880. A. TROLLOPE, The Duke’s Children, 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.
1880. Punch’s Almanack, 12, ‘The Cad’s Calendar,’ September.
| 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. |
1882. ALAN PINKERTON, The Molly Maguires, 24. ‘Yes,’ said Dormer, ‘Lawler is the BIG DOG in these parts now; besides he kapes a good tavern, and will see no old-timer, or young one either, for that matther, sufferin’ from want while he can relieve him!’
1888. Texas Siftings, 15 Sept. Don’t appear unduly surprised or flustrated if, on answering the front door bell, you find Mr. Gladstone wiping his feet on the door mat. Invite him to walk in in a cool, collected tone of voice … Show him you have entertained BIG BUGS before.
1888. Texas Siftings, 13 Oct. ‘Who’s a BIG GUN? You don’t consider that insignificant ink-slinger across the way a BIG GUN, do you?’ ‘My wife can hardly wait to get it out of the mail,’ shouted Jones desperately.
1900. HUME NISBET, In Sheep’s Clothing, 131. He is rather a BIG POT as a preacher I hear.
