big one

noun

Updated on: 19 Apr 2018

Definition of big one

1 informal : a thousand dollars

The house in the background, we bought it for 70 grand in 1967, it would go for two hundred big ones now, easy …
—John Updike

2 informal : an extravagant lie : whopper

Talking about lying, I thought, I had just told a big one.
—Elizabeth Chandler

3 the big one or less commonly the Big One : an extremely large and destructive earthquake

… the prediction that the Big One may come in December is triggering tremors up and down the Mississippi Valley.
—Michael J. McCarthy

Recent Examples of big one from the Web

On Sunday the 22nd, Napoli is set to visit Turin for the big one, a clash against Juve that could all but end the Scudetto race or spice things up even more heading into the last month of the season.

— juan pimiento, chicagotribune.com, "Manchester City clinch, Zlatan hits Chicago and the best of the soccer weekend," 15 Apr. 2018
Of the five biggest one-day gains for the Dow in its history, Trump has overseen two of them — one of about 670 points, and one 560 points.

— emily stewart, Vox, "Trump is finally making investors nervous," 3 Apr. 2018
One big one is that they are often used for limousine operations, in which massive mileage totals are racked up in a relatively short period of time, iSeeCars.com said.

— chris woodyard, USA TODAY, "Full-size SUVs are most likely to make it to 200,000 miles, new report shows," 2 Apr. 2018
What Happened: After weeks of the matter humming in the background, last week was another big one in the ongoing Special Investigation into Potential Russian Collusion.

— graeme mcmillan, WIRED, "While You Were Offline: The Stormy Daniels Front Continues to Roll In," 1 Apr. 2018
The last big one was (former House Speaker) New Gingrich suing Bill Clinton over the design of the 2000 Census and the Supreme Court deciding that case in 1999.

— gregory krieg, CNN, "The census has always been a weapon of political power," 27 Mar. 2018
The lone departure, though, is a big one in Gulich.

— special to the oregonian, OregonLive.com, "Oregon State Beavers overwhelmed by Louisville in women's NCAA Tournament Elite 8," 25 Mar. 2018
Most were never publicized, and in the case of two of the biggest ones, the extent or potential toxicity of the releases was initially understated.

— OrlandoSentinel.com, "Hurricane Harvey's toxic impact deeper than public told," 22 Mar. 2018
Inspired by the Parkland students, thousands of young people have participated in school walkouts, with the biggest one, the National School Walkout, planned for Wednesday, March 14.

— refinery29.com, "Here's What The Parkland Students Have Accomplished So Far," 14 Mar. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'big one.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.