Wiktionary

big cheese

English

edit

Etymology

edit

From big + cheese (“wealth, fame, importance”). Earliest use to mean importance from 1910.[1][2]

Pronunciation

edit

Noun

edit

big cheese (plural big cheeses)

  1. (idiomatic) A very important figure, especially a high-ranking person in an organization.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:important person
    He’ll be meeting with the big cheese first thing tomorrow, to present his proposal.
    • 1980, Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, Jerry Zucker, Airplane!, spoken by Rex Kramer (Robert Stack):
      I know. But it's his ship now, his command; he's in charge, he's the boss, the head man, the top dog, the big cheese, the head honcho, number one...
    • 1995, “Where The Money Goes”, in Rich Mendoza (music), Money Rock‎[1], performed by Schoolhouse Rock!/Jack Sheldon:
      If not for all these bills and taxes, our income would more than suffice. I feel like a real big cheese, until everybody takes a slice!

Derived terms

edit

Translations

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ Gary Martin (1997–) “Big cheese”, in The Phrase Finder.
  2. ^ O. Henry (1910) Unprofessional Servant: “Del had crawled from some Tenth Avenue basement like a lean rat and had bitten his way into the Big Cheese... He had danced his way into fame in sixteen minutes.”
Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=big_cheese&oldid=82489110"
  NODES
see 1