big (bĭg), adjective [comparative Bigger; superlative 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.

☞ 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.

2. noun [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.

3. transitive verb [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. noun or verb See Big, noun or verb

-- Webster's unabridged 1913