Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(a) an important person.

1819		‘One of the Fancy’ Tom Crib’s Memorial to Congress 42: Then up rose Ward, the veteran Joe, / And ’twixt his whiffs, suggested briefly / That but A few at first, should go / And those, the light-weight Gemmen chiefly; / As if too many ‘Big ones’ went, / They might alarm the Continent!!
1821		W.T. Moncrieff Tom and Jerry I iv: You’ve been sadly miss’d among the big ones since you’ve been away.
1836		‘The Charity Boy’ Mr and Mrs. Jim Crow’s Collection of Songs 6: When I’m a bad boy, I’m stuck on a stool, / And like some of the big ’uns I look like a fool.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open [as cit. 1835].
1890		C. Hindley Vocab. and Gloss. in True Hist. of Tom and Jerry 158: Big ones. Men of consequence.
1952		W.R. Burnett Little Men, Big World 47: He wanted to be the Big One in fact as well as fancy.
1964		J. Berryman 77 Dream Songs 7: Now Henry is unmistakably a Big One. / Fu’nnee; he don’t fe’el so. / He just stuck around.

(b) (orig. US) a tall story, an exaggerated tale.

1905		Marvel III:57 2: Lies is lies [...] and you know you’re planting a big one.
1915		L.R. Dingus ‘A Word-List From Virginia’ in DN IV:iii 181: big one, n. An incredible story; whopper. ‘Now tell us a big un, the biggest ’n you know.’.

(c) anything important.

1928		M.C. Sharpe Chicago May (1929) 28: The first big crooked job I did in Chi was with Dora Donegan. It turned out to be a big one for me.
1951		D. Dressler Parole Chief 265: He took off the big one [i.e. a robbery], got himself a stake.
1957		R. Prather Always Leave ’Em Dying 61: This would be a big one, hot copy, a nice gruesome subject for shocked conversations.
1968		N. Heard Howard Street 68: A big, fat one [i.e. winning bet] on the first try!
1972		D. Jenkins Semi-Tough 280: I hoped I could have that much class when I lost a big one.
1989		T. Blacker Fixx 193: I do believe that this could be the big one.
1995		J. Cameron Vinnie Got Blown Away 5: George I’m in a big one here.
1999		Guardian 12 Nov. 35: You’ll be thrilled to hear I landed the big one.
2007		N. ‘Razor’ Smith Raiders 21: Most criminals go through their careers never even getting a sniff of the Big One.
2013		T. Robinson Hard Bounce [ebook] ‘I’m just glad I got to see ’em win a big one. Never thought I’d see the day’.

(a) £20, £100, £1000.

1867		H.L. Williams Ticket-of-Leave Man 26: Converting the twenty-pound ‘flash’ into cash, or as Jem would have said: ‘Planting the big ’un!’.
1985		J. Sullivan ‘To Hull and Back’ Only Fools and Horses [TV script] Alright Del twelve grand. Just think of it Del Boy twelve big ’uns.
1989		M. Walker How to Kiss a Crocodile 98: ‘We collected two big ones (I think they meant thousands) after the first hour’.
1999		K. Sampson Powder 26: If these aristos wanted to give him five big ones for a couple of sets [...] then that was fine by him.

(b) (US) $100, $1000.

1908		K. McGaffey Sorrows of a Show Girl Ch. xx: Wilbur’s got the wise guys so leary for fear he will tip his mitt and they naturally slip him a big one every time they get a chance.
1935		A.J. Pollock Und. Speaks n.p.: Big ’un, a $1000.00 bill.
1955		Q. Reynolds Police Headquarters (1956) 283: Are you kidding? A half kilo of pure H would be worth at least fifteen big ones.
1958		P. Sann in N.Y. Post 12 Jan. n.p.: [He] lost, picking up 42 Big Ones ($42,000 that is) in consolation money [W&F].
1961		J. Scarne Complete Guide to Gambling 686: One big one – gambler’s term for $1000. [...] Other bookies may use these code words differently. A ‘big one’ might mean $100.
1967		M. Braly On the Yard (2002) 238: We’ll take nine big ones [i.e. $9000] apiece and leave you the overlay.
1974		C. Loken Come Monday Morning 236: Paid me off five thou. Five big ones.
1987		T. Wolfe Bonfire of the Vanities 165: One hundred big ones, Pete.
1994		J. Wambaugh Finnegan’s Week 82: The guy [...] jist handed us an envelope with five big ones in it.
2006		F.X. Toole Pound for Pound 142: It’ll cost you five big ones.

(c) (US Und.) a major and extremely lucrative coup.

1937		(con. 1905–25) E.H. Sutherland Professional Thief (1956) 25: Some get ‘the big one’ (extraordinarily large theft).
1943		W.R. Burnett Nobody Lives for Ever 19: Was it the phrase, ‘a million-dollar sucker"? [...]Doc either had hold of a big one or he was crazy.
1956		‘Charles Raven’ Und. Nights 123: Sorry, baby, I can’t take you out tonight. I got a big ’un on.
1968		W.R. Burnett Cool Man 17: ‘Can you imagine? All those years he was laying back, waiting to pull the big one’.
2004		J.A. Juarez Brotherhood of Corruption 164: [I]f I ever saw another laundry box full of cash [...] I could see myself giving in to the temptation of finally hitting the big one.

(d) (US) $1 million.

1967		M. Spillane Delta 18: If you guarantee I can keep the forty big ones.
1970		T. Southern Blue Movie (1974) 44: ‘Three big ones, baby! And final cut!’ ‘Three million? You’re kidding.’.
2000		Observer Rev. 2 Apr. 1: He’s gone walkies, they say, with five (very) big ones [...] They say he’s gone off with $5 million.
2017		D. Jenkins Stick a Fork In Me 81: ‘Ten big ones, baby [...] ten million dollars’.

(e) (Aus.) A$1000.

1970

Canberra Times (ACT) 28 Oct. 40/1: Strapper Barry David Becker told the Big Philou jury, today that Leslie Edward Lewis had ‘flicked’ a note, to him in prison which read, ‘10 big ones to nod your head or know anyone who will, OK’.

(f) a large – unspecified – amount of money.

1973		D. Goines Street Players 179: I knew I’d get a big one for you, honey.
1981		J. Ellroy Brown’s Requiem 23: I hated to disappoint him, so I tossed him a bone. After all, he was tossing me a big one.
2001		K. Sampson Outlaws (ms.) 56: I can’t think of better cover for a fella who’s going to land a big ’un next week.

(g) (US) one dollar.

1982		(con. 1970) J.M. Del Vecchio 13th Valley (1983) 75: My mother got ten grand for my brother. Ten thousand big ones.
2004		C. Hiaasen Skinny Dip 212: Half a million big ones ain’t a very appetizin’ option.

(a) (orig. US) death.

1930		implied in get the big one
1967		P. Thomas Down These Mean Streets (1970) 218: What if he still goes for his piece? I’ll hit him for the big one, in the head.
1999		J. Cameron Brown Bread in Wengen [ebook] Excepting the two I wasted by accident I never clocked anyone who got the big one.
2012		T. Piccirilli Last Kind Words 31: ‘Senior had a coronary three, four years ago and retired to Arizona. The big one hit him in Phoenix, on a golf course’.

(b) a major operation.

1951		D. Stivens Jimmy Brockett 227: With the big one I’d have to mark time, more or less, until the war was over.
2000		M. Amis Experience 246: He is going in for ‘the big one’.

(c) (US) World War I or World War II.

1961		(con. early 1950s) J. Peacock Valhalla 60: Here were the offspring of those other mercenaries who had fought in Big Two who were the offspring of the mercenaries who fought in Big One.
1997		(con. 1970s) G. Pelecanos King Suckerman (1998) 186: I was in the Big One myself.
2003		T. Dorsey Stingray Shuffle 140: You ungrateful little prick! I fought in the Big One for you!...

(d) nuclear war.

1963		in T.I. Rubin Sweet Daddy 88: Such a great world [...] why is everyone waiting for the big one? You know, the blast.
1986		J. Ellroy Silent Terror 10: My father, convinced that a Russian A-bomb attack was imminent, led my mother and me up to the roof to await the arrival of the Big One.

(e) (US) a heart attack.

1972		Sanford and Son [NBC-TV] This is it! I’m havin’ the big one! [HDAS].
1978		Lyle & Golenbock Bronx Zoo 101: My mother almost had the big one when she saw me [...] flippin’ the bird in front of 40,000 people.
1996		(con. 1964-65) B. Thorpe Sex and Thugs and Rock ’n’ Roll 230: I thought she was going to have the big one right there.

(f) (US) cancer.

1977

Philadelphia Inquirer (PA) 6 Feb. 19/1: The Irish belters [...] never thought they would see old Shoosh Novelli banging down a shot and a beer again. The old man has the Big One. The doctors found it in his jawbone.

(g) (Aus.) a major sporting event, e.g. a high-value horserace.

1970		D. Jenkins Dogged Victims 209: [of the Masters golf tournament] ’‘The players are nervous. There's tension out there. This is the big one’.
1996		(ref. to 1968) J. Byrell Lairs, Urgers & Coat-Tuggers xix: On the arvo of Donny day, 1968, The Flea could hardly contain his emotions when the running of the big ’un was nigh.

(h) a very large bomb.

2004

implied in eat the big one