Meaning of Big One | Babel Free

Definitions

1. A hypothetical massive earthquake somewhere along the Pacific coast of North America, but especially one projected to cause catastrophic damage to a major city such as Vancouver, Seattle, San Francisco, or Los Angeles.
   colloquial, usually
2. Something important; (with 'the') the most important one, (especially sports) the big game, the big play.
   colloquial
3. Death.
   euphemistic, slang, uncountable
4. Any other hypothetical event with the potential to be far more devastating than previous events of the same type.
   broadly, colloquial
5. One hundred or one thousand dollars.
   US, colloquial
6. A dollar.
   US, colloquial

Examples

“Wood agreed. ‘This is it.’ ‘The big one,’ said Fred Weasley. ‘The one we’ve all been waiting for,’ said George. ‘We know Oliver’s speech by heart,’ Fred told Harry.”

““Little Caesar stopped by. You guessed it. Edward G. Robinson himself, and paid four big ones for the seated figure. […]””

“He smiled faintly and dropped 100 big ones down on the bar.”

“You could spend the five big ones and the client could get downsized to a Jiffy Lube janitor the next week.”

“The visitors won't know the difference because […] after they’ve dropped five hundred big ones at the factory outlet stores, an extra dollar will seem like the bargain of the century.”

“I spent seventy-five big ones to have my computer crash.”

““[…] I paid 150,000 big ones for her to kill herself in front of the biggest wigs in Hollywood? […]””

“to bite the big one, buy the big one”

to die

“Near-synonym: mother of all”

“Oh, it's the worst one, this is the Big One [heart attack]! I'm dyin! You hear that, Elizabeth, I'm comin to join ya, honey [in Heaven]!”

CEFR level