Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (orig. US) a superior person or one who claims to be.

[1861		G. Meredith Letters 9 July (1970) I 91: The great ‘shots’ of Stanz parade the town with their prizes in their hats [...] I shal send you something shortly ].
1908		D.G. Phillips Susan Lenox II 123: I do what Finnegan tells me—just as Finnegan does what the big shout down below says.
1928		C. Panzram Journal of Murder in Gaddis & Long (2002) 116: A big shot is a leading light of crookdom.
1930		J. Lait Gangster Girl 26: From tipsy teamsters to the top shots of Chicago’s underworld, they had given her the chase and the work.
1936		‘Banjo’ Paterson Shearer’s Colt 164: He heard one of the big shots say he’d give five thousand dollars.
1941		J.M. Cain Mildred Pierce (1985) 435: ‘He’s very well known.’ ‘Known? Hell, he’s a shot.’.
1946		Mezzrow & Wolfe Really the Blues 184: The opium-smoking bigshots of the Purple Gang.
1948		J.M. Cain Moth (1950) 318: I had [...] what I wanted out of life – to be a kingpin in this terrific business, to have money, to be a shot.
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 193/2: Shot. [...] 3. One whose position or affluence entitles him to underworld respect; a person of importance.
1953		I. Hamilton Till Human Voices Wake Us 169: The sound of his activities reached the large ears of the Big Shot of the whole camp system.
1955		‘Blackie’ Audett Rap Sheet 190: He was a big shot and he didn’t want no one to forget it.
1959		(con. c.1915) G. Duffy Warden’s Wife 83: My father maintained that [...] ‘Mooney thinks of himself as a big shot.’.
1963		L.F. Freed Crime in S. Afr. 104: I just wanted to be a ‘big shot’ from the age of 12.
1963		A. Baron Lowlife (2001) 145: I had bought new clothes and I walked among the big shots like one of them.
1968		N. Heard Howard Street 114: Oh, Mr. Big Shot was around earlier.
1973		D. Goines Street Players 33: She stared at him curiously, wondering if he was just playing the big shot with her.
1974		D. Mamet Sexual Perversity in Chicago (1994) 33: King Farouk, now one of the shots, I read, he’d pull into some small town [...] he’d go put the make on some waitress.
1985		N. Pileggi Wiseguy (2001) 148: Jerry Asaro, a regular big shot.
1992		V. Headley Yardie 10: He could make more money working for the big shots downtown.
2000		Indep. Rev. 20 Jan. 11: A pushy, cocky, gobby, northern git who’s become a big shot by irritating a lot of people.
2010		Codella and Bennett Alphaville (2011) 21: An independent operator cultivating and maintaining necessary ties with the big shots.
2016		Observer Food Mthly 16 Oct. 56/1: Big Shots in Little Italy / Italians [...] are the hardest buggers to please.
2018		G. Gilmore Class Act [ebook] ‘These people aren’t big shots, they’re just self-promoting morons’.
2019		N. Walker Cherry 238: ‘I’ve been here working [...] while you’re out playing the big shot and losing our goddamn money!’.
2023		J. Jackson Pineapple Street 81: [H]is father, a big shot in private equity, [...] got him into Dartmouth .

2. attrib. use of sense 1.

1932		V.F. Nelson Prison Days and Nights 81: Elsmore became afflicted with a very pronounced ‘big shot’ complex.
1955		Helfand Report 85: [P]lainclothesmen [...] rarely made an attempt to discover and apprehend the ‘big-shot bookmaker’.

3. as a term of address.

a.1948		(con. early 1930s) C. McKay Harlem Glory (1990) 40: Lookeheah, big shot [...] we don’t wanta hear no bellyache blues.
1953		‘John Eagle’ Hoodlums (2021) 11: ‘I got it, big shot,’ Jake said, patting his change pocket in his suit.
1981		H. Gould Fort Apache, The Bronx 59: ‘Hey big shot,’ she shouted.