big air

noun

1

: great height achieved on a jump by a snowboarder, skateboarder, skier, etc.

He spent much of his boyhood in Minneapolis catching big air on trampolines.

—Rich Cooper

… they would get up and go in search of more big air, dumping themselves off ten-foot drops, only to wind up buried in the powder …

—Tim Sohn

BMX racing is all about being smooth and staying low on the jumps, not big air or tricks …

—Bicycling

2

: a competitive event (such as snowboarding, freestyle skiing, skateboarding, or motocross) in which a usually single trick is performed from a jump in which great height is achieved

She also won big air and claimed silver in slopestyle …

—Rachel Axon

Big air is just one jump. … It's just doing the biggest tricks you possibly can.

—Valentino Guseli, quoted in The Daily Telegraph (Australia)

—often used before another noun

a big air competition

In big air snowboarding, competitors launch themselves off a steep, ski-jump-style ramp and do one big trick while sailing high through the air.

—Justin Peters

Word History

First Known Use

1989, in the meaning defined at sense 1