big gun

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big gun (plural big guns)

(military) A large artillery gun or one of the largest-caliber naval guns (as on a battleship).
Synonym: great gun
- 1870 December 2, “The Suez Mail”, in Southland Times, number 1342, New Zealand, page 2:
  London, Nov. 1: The big guns opened fire on Paris today at mid-day.
- 1968 March 26, “Battleship begins Viet Tests”, in Evening News, Newburgh, NY, USA, retrieved 19 August 2011, page 1:
  The smaller crew was possible because the battleship was stripped of all but her big guns.
- 2008 December 6, William J. Bennett, John Cribb, “Deadly resolve answered attack”, in Daily Courier, USA, retrieved 19 Aug. 2011:
  The USS West Virginia became one of many symbols of American resolve. . . . Her big guns pounded the enemy at the battles of Leyte Gulf, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa.
(idiomatic, by extension, chiefly in the plural) A person, group, thing, or course of action that is powerful, influential, or particularly effective.
Synonyms: big shot, bigwig; see also Thesaurus:important person
- 1888 June 6, “A Great Day for Big Guns”, in New York Times, retrieved 20 Aug. 2011:
  This has been a great day for the big guns. This does not refer to Prof. Lummis and the other big guns of the Board of Visitors, for every day is a great one for them.
- 1957 Aug. 28, Ed Wilks, "Sports" (Headline), Park City News (USA), p. 15 (retrieved 20 Aug. 2011):
  Berra Is Big Gun In Yankee Victory
- 2001 June 29, Frank Pellegrini, “Whatever Happened to Military Restructuring?”, in Time:
  And the administration's big guns — Bush, Cheney, Powell and once-and-current Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld — had the clout to make bold and necessary changes.
- 2007 March 26, Yuri Wuensch, “Eric Clapton simply masterful”, in canoe.ca, Canada, retrieved 20 Aug. 2011:
  Clapton kept the big guns for last, finishing the set off with Derek and the Domino's "Layla", complete with the haunting instrumentals at song's end.

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Buggin, buggin'