big brother
119
3.4
- noun
- /bɪɡ ˈbrʌðər/
:
hermano mayor
- The night before I left home, my big brother told me everything he knew about the outside world.
- become a big brother
- a good big brother
- adore my big brother
Yeah, like a Big Brother, father, uncle, all that in one.
- Yeah, like a Big Brother, father, uncle, all that in one.
- I'm your brother, your Big Brother here.
- So Maurice White and my Big Brother taught me how to read the second thing I wanted to say.
- Like just before Christmas, one of my friends, my Big Brothers died in a fight right where someone in front of everyone.
- Whether they're grown men that come to the project, I just treat them like I'm their Big Brother or their young kids who come to the Squire program.
- Like my Big Brothers were they were they were not it like they could not do anything.
- He said yo bro, your Big Brother that you run with around here that raised you that lawman, he bringing him in working here.
- And if you don't have an uncle or you don't have a Big Brother or are you on, are your husbands of straight up wuss?
- And then that next year, my Big Brother Larry, that was like Johnny best friend he had got killed.
Examples
-
On the television, Jan's big brother Greg coaches her through a cheer, screaming "Louder, Jan!"
Fiction book (1992) -
I bet that big brother of yours is worried sick about you.
-
Yeah, like a Big Brother, father, uncle, all that in one.
-
Well, you know, I think you can thank your big brother.
-
Sometimes, my big brother took me to the top of the hill to slide.
Fiction book (1994) -
That's my big brother up there.
-
He's a lucky boy to have a big brother who will spend time with him.
Fiction book (2002) -
Of course, Hershel tried to be a sympathetic big brother and reached over to comfort me.
Fiction book (1994) -
Harry arrives and proposes a toast, "To my big brother George, the richest man in town."
Fiction book (1995) -
He always looked out for me, just like a big brother should.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
A boy or man who has the same parents as someone else
Surface Forms
Morphology
This sense of 'big brother' is an idiomatic, culturally specific reference (from Orwell's Big Brother) meaning an intrusive, watching authority; that surveillance/control meaning is not derivable from the literal senses of 'big' and 'brother'. A B1 learner who only knows the constituent words would not reliably infer government monitoring or loss of privacy without prior exposure or cultural knowledge.
Etymology
Big brother comes from the simple image of a big brother who watches over younger siblings, gives advice, and often acts like the person in charge, so it means an older brother who is caring but also authoritative.