Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A kind of coffee-pot containing a strainer for the infusion of the coffee, without allowing the grounds to mix with the infusion.
- noun A small wooden vessel; a can.
- noun . A child's cap.
- noun 2. A nightcap.
- noun . In England, the coif of a serjeant at law.
- noun 4. A head-dress worn in the later middle ages, and throughout the seventeenth century, by both men and women. That worn by women was broad at the top, with projecting corners, like ears.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun obsolete A building.
- noun A coffeepot with a strainer or perforated metallic vessel for holding the ground coffee, through which boiling water is poured; -- so called from Mr. Biggin, the inventor.
- noun A child's cap; a hood, or something worn on the head.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun archaic A child's
cap ; (figuratively)childhood . - noun historical An official's
hood orcoif . - noun Coffee pot that has separate areas for heating the coffee and water.
- noun A
building ; abigging .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a child's tight-fitting cap; often ties under the chin
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Mr. Carlyle said it was his habit to drink five cups of tea. He ran off into table-talk about tea and coffee, told us that he had found in Lord Russell's 'Memoirs of Moore,' which he called a rubbishy book, the origin of the word biggin; it comes from one Biggin, a tinner, who first made the vessel and was knighted afterwards.
Harrison, Mrs. Burton, 1843-1920. Recollections Grave and Gay 1911
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In summer and winter the baby's head was always closely covered with a cap, or "biggin" often warmly wadded, which was more comforting in winter than comfortable in summer.
Customs and Fashions in Old New England Alice Morse Earle 1881
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When was the last time Diddy really was 'biggin' up his brother ', not biggin' up his bank? "
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“Not a doit I,” answered poor Wamba — “and for hanging up by the feet, my brain has been topsy-turvy, they say, ever since the biggin was bound first round my head; so turning me upside down may peradventure restore it again.”
Ivanhoe 2004
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Many a time I have put on my spectacles to look at the lassie in church, because she has gentle blue een, wi 'long lashes; and, when she sits in shadow, and is very still and very pale, and is, happen, about to fall asleep wi' the length of the sermon and the heat of the biggin '- she is as like one of Canova's marbles as aught else.'
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'Ye can almost see my bit biggin', 'said Si, as he halted and pointed eastward of Larriston Fell to a patch of black peat and heather high on the rolling moorland.
Border Ghost Stories Howard Pease
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My biggin 'stands sweet on this south slopin' hill,
The Modern Scottish Minstrel , Volume I. The Songs of Scotland of the past half century Various
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"Hanged or drowned, alive or dead," said Edie, sticking to his guns, "I mind the biggin 'o't!"
Red Cap Tales Stolen from the Treasure Chest of the Wizard of the North Samuel Rutherford Crockett
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Lowland wars, more than they teach Master of Art in the old biggin 'in the Hie Street of Glascow.
John Splendid The Tale of a Poor Gentleman, and the Little Wars of Lorn Neil Munro
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BABY CAKE (_Twelfth cake_), dressed like a boy, in a fine long coat, biggin bib, muckender, and a little dagger; his usher bearing a great cake, with a bean and a pease.
A Righte Merrie Christmasse The Story of Christ-Tide John Ashton
reesetee commented on the word biggin
A cap that ties under the chin, worn during the 16th and 17th centuries.
November 14, 2007
markusloke commented on the word biggin
Coffee pot with a separate container to hold the ground coffee - this sense of the word is etymologically derived from its inventor
September 4, 2014
qms commented on the word biggin
There once was a zealot named Wiggin
Who practiced outlandish religion.
Despite vulgar stares
He said morning prayers
Clad only in boots and a biggin.
September 22, 2018
bilby commented on the word biggin
My ears project enough as it is, thanks anyway.
September 4, 2021