People of consequence.

1

1831.  

        ’Tis our Democracy, good Gat,
To keep the “Big Bugs” waxing fat.
Northern Watchman (Troy, N.Y.), April 5.    

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1832.  There are … located in Cincinnati some Irish pedlars, who have by all manner of means acquired wealth, and are now the “biggest bugs” in the place.—S. A. Ferrall, ‘Ramble through the U.S.A.,’ p. 178 (Lond.).

3

1835.  I was rather fearful that you would not be able to do much with the big bugs there in the village.—D. P. Thompson, ‘Adventures of Timothy Peacock,’ p. 40 (Middlebury).

4

1836.  Did he make these forgeries on his own hook, or at the instigation of the big bug? If the latter, which is most guilty?—Public Ledger (Phila.), Aug. 24.

5

1837.  The letter was addressed to a merchant,—one of the “big bugs,” as they are called in the West.—Knickerbocker Mag., ix. 259 (March).

6

1839.  You know we have some big bugs among us.—‘History of Virgil A. Stewart,’ p. 139 (N.Y.).

7

1839.  I left my knapsack in the man’s charge, and set out to report myself to that gentleman; who, mine host gave me to understand, in a malicious way, was a “great bug,” that is, a great personage, rolling in wealth; which, for his part, he did not envy, because he was an honest man, who made his money honestly by the sweat of his brow.—R. M. Bird, ‘Robin Day,’ i. 130 (Phila.).

8

1840.  There are THE MANDARINS, our big bugs, and I could name them to you.—John P. Kennedy, ‘Quodlibet,’ p. 138 (1860).

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1842.  HARD TIMES. The big bugs of Philadelphia find it necessary to send their gold and silver plate to the mint, to be coined.—Spirit of the Times (Phila.), July 16.

10

1843.  We’ll pick out the big bugs.—‘Sam Slick in England,’ chap. xxiv. (Bartlett).

11

1843.  I allow the stranger and his woman-body thinks themselves mighty big-bugs.—B. R. Hall (‘Robert Carlton’), ‘The New Purchase,’ i. 64–5.

12

1847.  Permit me to carry you off to introduce you to some of the big bugs.—J. K. Paulding, ‘American Comedies,’ p. 104 (Phila.).

13

1849.  The most of the ‘plenty-penitentiaries’ and ‘big bugs’ generally, dwell on the top of a hill, about a mile from the centre of the city, and dine late.—Knick. Mag., xxxiii. 545 (June).

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1849.  The fellow was a mixture of Spanish and negro, wore spectacles for dignity, and was deaf for convenience: all unmistakeable signs of a big bug.—Theodore T. Johnson, ‘Sights in the Gold Region,’ p. 31 (N.Y.).

15

1853.  Who is that walking there with the big bugs in front? he eagerly asked. Why, don’t you know? That is the Governor.—Daily Morning Herald, May 10 (St. Louis).

16

1856.  Hiram was known to all, and beloved by many of the big-bugs at Washington.—Knick. Mag., xlvii. 270 (March).

17

1856.  She ’s one o’ the big bugs here—that is, she ’s got more money than a’ most any body else in town.—Whitcher, ‘The Widow Bedott Papers,’ No. 25.

18

1857.  His only companions were the sons of great men; big bugs, as proud as himself, but who had something to be proud of, I supposed.—Knick. Mag., l. 484 (Nov.).

19

1861.  Yas, yas, massa, I show you where all of de big bugs stop.—Id., lviii. 314 (Oct.).

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