Great
(Great) a. [Compar. Greater ; superl. Greatest.] [OE. gret, great, AS. greát; akin to OS. & LG.
grot, D. groot, OHG. groz, G. gross. Cf. Groat the coin.]
1. Large in space; of much size; big; immense; enormous; expanded; — opposed to small and little; as, a
great house, ship, farm, plain, distance, length.
2. Large in number; numerous; as, a great company, multitude, series, etc.
3. Long continued; lengthened in duration; prolonged in time; as, a great while; a great interval.
4. Superior; admirable; commanding; — applied to thoughts, actions, and feelings.
5. Endowed with extraordinary powers; uncommonly gifted; able to accomplish vast results; strong; powerful; mighty; noble; as,
a great hero, scholar, genius, philosopher, etc.
6. Holding a chief position; elevated: lofty: eminent; distinguished; foremost; principal; as, great men; the
great seal; the great marshal, etc.
He doth object I am too great of birth.
Shak. 7. Entitled to earnest consideration; weighty; important; as, a great argument, truth, or principle.
8. Pregnant; big
The ewes great with young.
Ps. lxxviii. 71. 9. More than ordinary in degree; very considerable in degree; as, to use great caution; to be in great
pain.
We have all
Great cause to give great thanks.
Shak. 10. (Genealogy) Older, younger, or more remote, by single generation; — often used before grand to
indicate one degree more remote in the direct line of descent; as, great-grandfather great- grandson, etc.
Great bear the constellation Ursa Major. — Great cattle all manner of cattle except sheep and yearlings.
Wharton. — Great charter Magna Charta. — Great circle of a sphere, a circle the plane of which
passes through the center of the sphere. — Great circle sailing, the process or art of conducting a
ship on a great circle of the globe or on the shortest arc between two places. — Great go, the final
examination for a degree at the University of Oxford, England; — called also greats. T. Hughes. —
Great guns. (Naut.) See under Gun. — The Great Lakes the large fresh-water lakes (Lakes Superior,
Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario) which lie on the northern borders of the United States. — Great
master. Same as Grand master, under Grand. — Great organ (Mus.), the largest and loudest of
the three parts of a grand organ (the others being the choir organ and the swell, and sometimes the
pedal organ or foot keys), It is played upon by a separate keyboard, which has the middle position. —
The great powers in modern diplomacy, Great Britain, France, Germany, Austria, Russia, and Italy.
— Great primer. See under Type. — Great scale the complete scale; — employed to designate
the entire series of musical sounds from lowest to highest. — Great sea, the Mediterranean sea. In
Chaucer both the Black and the Mediterranean seas are so called. — Great seal. (a) The principal
seal of a kingdom or state. (b) In Great Britain, the lord chancellor (who is custodian of this seal); also,
his office. — Great tithes. See under Tithes. — The great, the eminent, distinguished, or powerful.
— The Great Spirit, among the North American Indians, their chief or principal deity. — To be great
(with one), to be intimate or familiar Bacon.
Great
(Great) n. The whole; the gross; as, a contract to build a ship by the great.
Great-bellied
(Great"-bel`lied) a. Having a great belly; bigbellied; pregnant; teeming. Shak.