big top

American  

noun

1. the largest or main tent of a circus.

2. a circus.

---

big top British  

noun

1. the main tent of a circus

2. the circus itself

---

big top Idioms  

1. The main tent of a circus, as in The high-wire act is almost always in the big top . [c. 1840]

2. 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

A man whose usual job involves setting up big tops at music festivals is preparing to run the world's most southerly post office in Antarctica.

From BBC

Around 20 jugglers, trapeze artists and concession stand workers are filtering into the big top that the majestic Circus Vargas uses to perform across 25 California cities 11 months out of the year.

From Los Angeles Times

The whole Republican convention, always a circus show of pretense and populism, will more accurately resemble a hallucinogenic Barnum and Bailey event under the big top – or even more precisely Mad Max under the Thunderdome.

From Salon

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, that self-proclaimed greatest show on Earth, is back seven years after folding up its big top for what was feared to be the last time.

From New York Times

“You wanna feel something/You know is real, something/beyond the paler things,” the chorus sings in the opening number, describing the promise of the big top.

From New York Times