big daddy


noun(often initial capital letters)Informal.
  1. a man regarded as the paternalistic head of a family.

  2. the founder or a leading member of a company, organization, movement, etc.: the big daddy of soil conservation.

  1. the federal government: to thank big daddy for the tax cut.

  2. Chiefly Southern U.S. grandfather.

Origin of big daddy

1
First recorded in 1950–55

Words Nearby big daddy

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use big daddy in a sentence

  • His father, big daddy, in his rough, profane way was greatly concerned about his son.

    Herein is Love | Reuel L. Howe
  • Nothing that Brock could say to his father was sufficient to cause big daddy to turn away.

    Herein is Love | Reuel L. Howe

Other Idioms and Phrases with big daddy

big daddy

An influential man, a big shot (see under big cheese), as in You'll have to get permission from big daddy. [Slang; mid-1900s]

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.