bigness meaning (archaic): definition, etymology and quotations

bigness

noun

UK, US /ˈbɪɡnəs/

Etymology From Middle English bignesse (“size”), equivalent to big + -ness.

Archaic Size.

His [a hart's] head when it commeth firſt out, hath a ruſſet pyll vpon it, the which is called Veluet,[…]. When his head is growne out to the full bigneſſe, then he rubbeth of that pyll, and that is called fraying of his head.1575, Jacques du Fouilloux, “Of the Termes of Venery”, in George Gascoigne, transl., The Noble Art of Venerie or Hunting. […], London: […] Thomas Purfoot, published 1611, →OCLC, page 244:
Mine old lord, whiles he liv'd, was so precise, / That he would take exceptions at my buttons, / And, being like pins' heads, blame me for the bigness; / Which made me curate-like in mine attire,1594, Christopher Marlow[e], The Troublesome Raigne and Lamentable Death of Edward the Second, King of England: […], London: […] [Eliot’s Court Press] for Henry Bell, […], published 1622, →OCLC, [Act II]:

4 more examples

And, fast by, hanging in a golden chain, / This pendent World, in bigness as a star / Of smallest magnitude close by the moon.1667, John Milton, “Book II”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 1051-1053:
He that vvould diſcern the rudimentall ſtroak of a plant, may behold it in the Originall of Duckvveed, at the bigneſſe of a pins point, from convenient vvater in glaſſes, vvherein a vvatchfull eye may alſo diſcover the puncticular Originals of Perivvincles and Gnats.1658, Thomas Browne, “The Garden of Cyrus. […]. Chapter III.”, in Hydriotaphia, Urne-buriall, […] Together with The Garden of Cyrus, […], London: […] Hen[ry] Brome […], →OCLC, page 137:
Do not several sorts of Rays make Vibrations of several bignesses, which according to their bignesses excite Sensations of several Colours, much after the manner that the Vibrations of the Air, according to their several bignesses excite Sensations of several Sounds?1704, I[saac] N[ewton], “[The Third Book of Opticks.] Part I”, in Opticks: Or, A Treatise of the Reflexions, Refractions, Inflexions and Colours of Light. […], London: […] Sam[uel] Smith, and Benj[amin] Walford, printers to the Royal Society, […], →OCLC, page 346:
Eighty Poles, each of one Foot high, were erected for this purpoſe, and very ſtrong Cords of the bigneſs of Packthread were faſtned by Hooks to many Bandages, which the Workmen had girt round my Neck, my Hands, my Body, and my Legs.1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “The Author Gives Some Account of Himself and Family, His First Inducements to Travel. […]”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume I, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, part I (A Voyage to Lilliput), page 20:

The characteristic of being big.

It was big—and Babbitt respected bigness in anything; in mountains, jewels, muscles, wealth, or words.1922, Sinclair Lewis, chapter III, in Babbitt, New York, N.Y.: Harcourt, Brace and Company, →OCLC:
They liked what they liked—would tolerate no innovations. My change in thought and expression had angered them into fierce denouncement. To expose a thing deeper than its skin surface was to them an indecency. They ridiculed my striving for bigness, depth.1944, Emily Carr, “Art and the House”, in The House of Small:

Derived terms: overbigness