big boy

noun

: big gun

—usually used in plural

Synonyms

• big
• big cheese
• big gun
• big leaguer
• big shot
• big wheel
• big-timer
• bigfoot
• biggie
• bigwig
• fat cat
• heavy
• heavy hitter
• heavyweight
• high-muck-a-muck
• high-muckety-muck
• honcho
• kahuna
• kingfish
• kingpin
• major leaguer
• muckety-muck
• muck-a-muck
• mucky-muck
• nabob
• nawab
• nibs
• nob [chiefly British]
• pooh-bah
• poo-bah
• wheel

Examples of big boy in a Sentence

when she became the network's White House correspondent, she knew that she was now playing with the big boys

Recent Examples on the Web

Besides the first day of KHSAA state football finals on Friday, there was a big boys basketball tilt involving No. 4 Male and No. 3 Trinity. —Rich Barak, The Courier-Journal, 7 Dec. 2024

One thing Green Bay hasn't done, though, is beat the NFL’s big boys. —Rob Reischel, Forbes, 5 Dec. 2024

They get penalized for playing a big boy schedule while schools like Notre Dame play a JV schedule EVERYY year. —Stewart Mandel, The Athletic, 21 Nov. 2024

By the numbers: Like other holiday beers, these are big boys in terms of alcohol content. —Sam Allard, Axios, 26 Nov. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1916, in the meaning defined above