big [ME] Like many small words, big appeared from nowhere. It is first recorded in the early Middle Ages meaning ‘strong, powerful’, and clear examples referring just to size do not emerge until the 15th century, although it is difficult to be sure which sense is being used in many cases. The sense ‘elder’ as in big brother or big sister is first found in the early 19th century. In George Orwell’s novel Nineteen Eighty-Four the head of state is called Big Brother, and ‘Big Brother is watching you’ is the caption on posters showing his face. The novel was published in 1949, and very quickly people started using Big Brother to refer to any person or organization exercising total control over people’s lives. Various other phrases involving big refer to an important or influential person, such as big cheese, which first came into use in American slang during the late 19th century. It almost certainly has no connection with food—the word cheese here probably comes from Urdu and Persian cīz, which just means ‘thing’.