biggin

¹ American  

[big-in] / ˈbɪg ɪn /

noun

Archaic.

1. a close-fitting cap worn especially by children in the 16th and 17th centuries.

2. a soft cap worn while sleeping; nightcap.

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biggin ² American  

[big-in] / ˈbɪg ɪn /

noun

1. a coffeepot, usually silver, having a separate container in which the coffee is immersed while being boiled.

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biggin ¹ British  

/ ˈbɪɡɪn /

noun

1. a plain close-fitting cap, often tying under the chin, worn in the Middle Ages and by children in the 17th century

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biggin ² British  

/ ˈbɪɡən /

noun

1. a construction, esp a house or cottage

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Etymology

Origin of biggin¹

1520–30; < Middle French beguin kind of hood or cap, originally one worn by a Beguine

Origin of biggin²

After Biggin, the name of its early 19th-century inventor

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

biggin

In the preparation of coffee by boiling, two and a half times as much matter is extracted as by biggin.

From All About Coffee by Ukers, William H. (William Harrison)

‘Your biggin is na broken, sir, Nor is your towers won; But the fairest lady in a’ the lan’ For you this day maun burn.’

From Ballads of Romance and Chivalry Popular Ballads of the Olden Times - First Series by Sidgwick, Frank

The Marion Harland pot was an improved metal coffee biggin.

From All About Coffee by Ukers, William H. (William Harrison)

The coffee biggin still retains its popularity in England.

From All About Coffee by Ukers, William H. (William Harrison)

The Triumph coffee filter was a cloth-bag device which made any coffee pot a biggin.

From All About Coffee by Ukers, William H. (William Harrison)