Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The most important or powerful person in an enterprise or field.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun idiomatic A boss, leader, chieftain, or top-ranking person in an organization.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From Big Kahuna, nickname of the leader of a gang of surfers in the film Gidget (1959), from Hawaiian kahuna, priest, expert, from Proto-Polynesian *tufunga.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Borrowed from Hawaiian word kahuna (a shaman or wizard).

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Examples

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