big top
Americannoun
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the largest or main tent of a circus.
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a circus.
noun
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the main tent of a circus
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the circus itself
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The main tent of a circus, as in The high-wire act is almost always in the big top . [c. 1840]
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Underworld slang for a maximum-security prison, as in He was sentenced to ten years in the big top . [1950s]
Etymology
Origin of big top
An Americanism dating back to 1890–95
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.
Having a permanent theater rather than a roving big top immediately upped Cirque’s game, Baldwin said.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 29, 2023
Scouting For Girls, Britpop band Suede and DJ Jo Whiley with her 90s anthems are all set to top the bill in the big top arena.
From BBC • Nov. 2, 2023
The painting’s primary form is the big, top log that booms outward while its back end diminishes swiftly to a distant vanishing point.
From New York Times • Jul. 27, 2023
Now, he cannot see himself having any other job than the Timoteo Circus, and that when he dies he wants his funeral to be held under the circus’ big top.
From Seattle Times • Feb. 28, 2023
Inevitably, people try to exit the big top the way they entered it—through the menagerie.
From "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen
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.
