big Ike

noun

, Chiefly South Midland and Southern U.S.: Disparaging.

1. a self-important person.

Word History and Origins

Origin of big Ike¹

An Americanism dating back to 1900–05

Example Sentences

They strutted 'round, big Ike fashion, a bustin' in rooms widout knockin', talkin' free to de white ladies, and familiar to de slave gals, ransackin' drawers, and runnin' deir bayonets into feather beds, and into de flower beds in de yards.

From Project Gutenberg

He talks like Big Ike that went with the Wild West Show.

From Project Gutenberg

Parson, I has been a bad man and killed a man once, but he was a Portuguese sailor, and he had the drop on me, the same as you did on Big Ike at the opening of these proceedings, and I had to kill him.

From Project Gutenberg