Big Bertha
Americannoun
noun
"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012Etymology
Origin of Big Bertha
C20: approximate translation of German dicke Bertha : fat Bertha; named after Bertha Krupp, at whose works in Essen a very effective 42 cm mortar was made
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“It’s Russian roulette, or it’s the Big Bertha,” Bruno Retailleau, a top senator with the conservative Republican party, said last week to sum up the dilemma, referring to Germany’s famous World War I-era howitzer.
From New York Times
Colin L. Powell, the former secretary of state and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of staff, recalled being sent to Germany in 1958 as a young platoon leader, where his primary responsibility was tending to what he described in his memoir as “a 280-millimeter atomic cannon carried on twin truck-tractors, looking like a World War I Big Bertha.”
From New York Times
They’re constructed from recycled stainless steel in sizes with catchy names: Big Bertha at 40 ounces, Grace at 27 ounces and the Firecracker at 18 ounces.
From Seattle Times
His sport is not one where you saunter to a batter’s box to swing a Louisville Slugger or walk to a tee box to swing a Big Bertha.
From Los Angeles Times
Green sea turtles can grow to hundreds of pounds, and the bigger ones — coined “Big Bertha” — need two volunteers to handle.
From Washington Post
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
