big deal n.
1. (also big dealer) an important (or self-important) person.
AS XXII:1 Feb. 54: big deal, A BTO, a big shot. | ‘Pacific War Lang.’ in||
Harder They Fall (1971) 256: Dis guy’s a big dealer [...] He’s got a car, it looks like they put wheels on a speed-boat. | ||
Wilson Collection n.p.: big dealer [...] name for self-important person [DARE]. | ||
in Sweet Daddy 32: Let him go to one of these big deals. | ||
in DARE. | ||
After Hours 170: Macho [...] told Gail what a big deal I was. | ||
(con. 1940s) Hold Tight (1990) 68: I don’t know who, but some big deal’s got his finger in this pie. | ||
Crack War (1991) 14: His father, Matt Byrne, had been a big deal on the job [...] He knew police chiefs, prosecutors, and judges. | ||
Winter of Frankie Machine (2007) 62: Momo was a big deal in San Diego, but everyone knew that San Diego was really run from L.A. | ||
Finders Keepers (2016) 95: To the provincials, John was a big deal. | ||
Tales of the Honey Badger [ebook] We jumped ther queue — one of the perks of being a ‘big deal’. | ||
Broken 190: Neal is [...] a big deal in his field. | ‘Sunset’ in
2. (also deal) anything that is considered important to the speaker; often ironic.
Boys’ Life Oct. 9/1: ‘This is a big deal, Langdon, big deal.’ ‘Yeah?’ Langdon looked up intently. ‘Biggest cargo of the year, Langdon’. | ||
Dict. Service Sl. n.p.: big deal . . . uncalled for action. | ||
Man with the Golden Arm 109: You’d think it was a big deal, tryin’ to make a chick. | ||
Catcher in the Rye (1958) 132: What a deal that was. You never saw so many phonies in all your life. | ||
On the Waterfront (1964) 239: Do you have to make such a big deal out of it? | ||
Crust on its Uppers 47: Big deal. Really big. | ||
Carlito’s Way 10: The good girls held on to their cherry. And it was a big deal. | ||
Patriot Game (1985) 5: She got all mad again and came in and started reading out Mrs. Tobin and Bishop Doherty told her to shut up, there was no need to make a big deal out a small matter. | ||
Guardian Media 2 Aug. 3: You have to remember that LSD was a very big deal. | ||
Sun. Times News Rev. 12 Mar. 1: It’s no big deal to me to have a house in Westminster. | ||
Call of the Weird (2006) 130: Is that such a big deal, having sex in the negotiating room? | ||
ThugLit Mar. [ebook] [I]t wasn't a big fucking deal that he just let thirty-four hundred dollars disappear. | ‘Houston’ in||
Headland [ebook] ‘It’s no big deal’. | ||
Bobby March Will Live Forever 39: If McCoy needed reminding what a big deal the Glasgow Fair was, he got it as soon as the cab turned into Killermont Street. | ||
Stoning 115: ‘Am I the only one who thinks that’s a big deal?’. |