Wordinistas! Check out A Way With Words, public radio's call-in show about language.
Dictionary definition of “big dog”

big dog

n. a large bill for services rendered. Subjects:
Editorial Note: Pure speculation, but consider big dog ‘big-bug, big shot’ (HDAS [1833], 1843), as well as dog ‘a bond or promissory note’ (HDAS 1833) and ‘a gambling marker’ (HDAS 1967).
Comments? | Cites | Permalink | Tell a Friend
Citations: 1938-39 Hatch @ New York City Lexicon of Trade Jargon “Jargon from Bricklayers, Masons and Plasterers International Union of America, Local 37, 389 East 154th St.”: Big dog—to owe a large bill.
Posted 31 May 05 | Permalink | Tell a Friend

Leave a comment (must be approved by the moderator before it will appear).

Name (mandatory):

Email (mandatory):

Location (optional):

Your Web Site (optional):

Remember my personal information

Notify me, by email, of follow-up comments.

Recent Catchwords
hot money n. (7/4)
yes-and v. (7/3)
ten-tenths adj. (7/3)
harlotfest n. (7/3)
negative operating cycle n. (7/3)
sporno n. (7/3)
Twaggot n. (7/3)
heinie n. (7/3)
momshell n. (7/3)
porn mode n. (7/3)
downwinder n. (7/3)
tele-town-hall n. (7/3)
flame-o-gram n. (7/3)
Twinjury n. (7/2)
adulticiding n. (7/2)
bubble capital n. (7/2)
Iran-geles n. (7/2)
brown town n. (7/2)
boner dyke n. (7/2)
one and done n. (7/2)
 More catchwords...
Lexicographer's Rules
Call of nature (7/1)
Feedburner URLs that have huge accidental traffic (6/16)
I held Samuel Johnson’s 1755 dictionary in my hands (6/9)
New: doors are open for Wordnik.com, a dictionary that aims to show all the words (6/8)
Boohoo, wah, & diddums: words of fake sympathy (6/3)
My book is now available at no cost as an e-book download (5/25)
Jitterbug thug and dance (5/20)
The Fantods and the Cold Robbies (5/5)
A Conversation with Roy Blount Jr. (4/29)
Putting In A Good Word: rating words’ chances for success (4/27)
 More blog entries...
Find A Word  »
 A   B   C   D   E 
 F   G   H   I   J 
 K   L   M   N   O 
 P   Q   R   S   T 
 U   V   W   X   Y 
 Z   0-9 
Search
Search Site

Google Site Search
Recent searches: white space…
New Comments
Featherwood0973 commented on featherwood (6/30)
garyvh commented on rexing (6/28)
JR commented on jam track (6/21)
ElasticMind commented on innerpreneur (6/20)
GlennT commented on fourwall (5/31)
RevRayGreen commented on medible (5/25)
OKSoldiers commented on Mortarville (5/21)
Lew Hollerbach commented on eyebrow window (4/24)
Ollie commented on rexing (4/22)
BeCareful commented on mouth-breather (4/22)
BeCareful commented on mouth-breather (4/21)
Ollie commented on rexing (4/21)
Jwalton commented on gonch (4/20)
Debride commented on gonch (4/20)
Jwalton commented on gonch (4/19)
Subscribe to the RSS feed. • Subscribe to the mailing list. • Browse the archive. • Add to Technorati Favorites. • © 1999-2009 by Grant Barrett, Double-Tongued Dictionary, New York City.