big top

See synonyms for big top on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. the largest or main tent of a circus.

  2. a circus.

Origin of big top

1
An Americanism dating back to 1890–95

Words Nearby big top

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use big top in a sentence

  • So now the big top comes down and rest in peace, Michael Jackson.

  • In the summer, with the big top, I often simulated the ringmaster to make announcements from the center ring.

    David Lannarck, Midget | George S. Harney
  • Here it was that he found a little man muffled up to the ears in a big top coat, standing before the dying fire.

  • From the street parade to Polly's first appearance in the "big top," had seemed a short while to Jim and Toby.

    Polly of the Circus | Margaret Mayo
  • At any rate, let's go out to the circus lot, even if we do not get inside the big top.

    David Lannarck, Midget | George S. Harney

British Dictionary definitions for big top

big top

nouninformal
  1. the main tent of a circus

  2. the circus itself

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Idioms and Phrases with big top

big top

The main tent of a circus, as in The high-wire act is almost always in the big top. [c. 1840]

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.