TO GO THE BIG FIGURE, verb. phr. (common).—A variant of ‘to go the whole hog’; embark upon an enterprise of magnitude; to do things on a large scale: from a term used in poker.
1868. Pickings from the Picayune, 226. When I saw that, I thought I might as well GO THE BIG FIGURE, you see, and so I grabbed the bag; but mischief would have it, that just then the policeman grabbed me and took me to the caboose.
