adj. and adv. (colloquial).—A vulgarism expressive of excess. Thus, TO DRESS LARGE = (1) to dress showily, and (2) to flash one’s PACKET (q.v.); TO GO LARGE = to go noisily; TO PLAY LARGE = to play high; TO TALK LARGE = to brag, etc.
1848. E. Z. C. JUDSON (‘Ned Buntline’), The Mysteries and Miseries of New York, ii. ch. 4, p. 29. The eyes of the gamblers sparkled all the brighter, when they noted the hundred marks upon the bills and saw that he intended to ‘play LARGE.’
1891. Globe, 17 Sept., col. 2, p. 2. This is indeed ALL VERY FINE AND LARGE, but can it be that instead of ‘which’ we ought to read ‘who’?
1892. KIPLING, Barrack-Room Ballads, ‘Tommy.’
| An’ hustlin’ drunken soldiers when they’re GOIN’ LARGE a bit | |
| Is five times better business than paradin’ in full kit. |
LARGE BLUE KIND, phr. (American).—A general intensitive; e.g., a monstrous lie; a bad headache; an interesting book and so forth.
