Definition of "bigness"
bigness
noun
countable and uncountable, plural bignesses
(now rare) Size.
Quotations
His [a hart's] head when it commeth firſt out, hath a ruſſet pyll vpon it, the which is called Veluet, […]. When his head is growne out to the full bigneſſe, then he rubbeth of that pyll, and that is called fraying of his head.
1575, Jacques du Fouilloux, “Of the Termes of Venery”, in George Gascoigne, transl., The Noble Art of Venerie or Hunting. […], London: […] Thomas Purfoot, published 1611, page 244
Mine old lord, whiles he liv'd, was so precise, / That he would take exceptions at my buttons, / And, being like pins' heads, blame me for the bigness; / Which made me curate-like in mine attire,
1594 (first publication), Christopher Marlow[e], The Trovblesome Raigne and Lamentable Death of Edvvard the Second, King of England: […], London: […] [Eliot’s Court Press] for Henry Bell, […], published 1622, [Act II]
And, fast by, hanging in a golden chain, / This pendent World, in bigness as a star / Of smallest magnitude close by the moon.
1667, John Milton, “Book II”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […]; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, lines 1051-1053
Do not several sorts of Rays make Vibrations of several bignesses, which according to their bignesses excite Sensations of several Colours, much after the manner that the Vibrations of the Air, according to their several bignesses excite Sensations of several Sounds?
1704, I[saac] N[ewton], “[The Third Book of Opticks.] Part I”, in Opticks: Or, A Treatise of the Reflexions, Refractions, Inflexions and Colours of Light. […], London: […] Sam[uel] Smith, and Benj[amin] Walford, printers to the Royal Society, […], page 346
Eighty Poles, each of one Foot high, were erected for this purpoſe, and very ſtrong Cords of the bigneſs of Packthread were faſtned by Hooks to many Bandages, which the Workmen had girt round my Neck, my Hands, my Body, and my Legs.
1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “The Author Gives Some Account of Himself and Family, His First Inducements to Travel. […]”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume I, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], part I (A Voyage to Lilliput), page 20
Among the ornaments […] was a small mirror, about the bigness of a lady's hand glass, […]
1913 January–May, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “The Gods of Mars”, in The All-Story, New York, N.Y.: Frank A. Munsey Co.; republished as The Gods of Mars, Chicago, Ill.: A[lexander] C[aldwell] McClurg & Co., 1918 September, page 48
The characteristic of being big.
Quotations
They liked what they liked—would tolerate no innovations. My change in thought and expression had angered them into fierce denouncement. To expose a thing deeper than its skin surface was to them an indecency. They ridiculed my striving for bigness, depth.
1944, Emily Carr, “Art and the House”, in The House of Small