big leagues


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big leagues

An area, echelon, or sphere of great competition, success, power, achievement, etc. Refers to major (i.e., "big") leagues of sports teams. I know you're new here, but you need to perform much better than that. You're in the big leagues now. Welcome to the big leagues, senator. With this promotion, you'll be working in the big leagues. Can you handle it?
See also: big, league
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

big league

An area of tough competition and high rewards; the largest or foremost of its kind. For example, Winning an Oscar put this unknown actress in the big league. The term alludes to the major (big) leagues of American baseball. [Late 1800s] Also see big time, def. 2.
See also: big, league
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

big league

1. n. a situation where competition is keen and a high level of performance is expected. (Usually plural. Referred originally to major league sports.) You’re in the big leagues now—no more penny-ante stuff.
2. and big-league mod. professional; big time. (From baseball.) When I’m a big-league star, I’ll send you free tickets.
See also: big, league
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions Copyright © 2006 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
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References in periodicals archive ?
Current and former Big League partners include Albert Pujols, Anthony Rizzo, Buster Posey, David Ortiz and Jose Bautista, and other players who advise, test, and approve Marucci's full line of baseball and softball products before going to market.
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Smith's interviews revealed that just about everyone could name at least one, and maybe even several, African American ballplayers who had the ability to play in the big leagues. (19)
Baseball's whitewash: sportswriter Wendell Smith exposes Major League Baseball's big lie
ideas into the North with them." Powers said it was only a matter of time before Blacks were admitted into the big leagues ("Broun and Powers Take a Stand," 1933, Section II, 5).
"What's wrong with baseball": the Pittsburgh Courier and the beginning of its campaign to integrate the national pastime
Unfamiliar with the workings of a major league clubhouse in his first big league spring training, Bard thought he had been sent down.
Bard's spring tour finished
The other problem is the attitude of the player (and perhaps his agent as well): "I have been successful to this point, and now that I'm in the big leagues they want me to change.
Dot your eyes and improve your coaching
By 1995, only Jim Thorpe remained in the big leagues as a tepid trooper awaiting his 50th birthday and an escape to the mulligan tour four years down the road.
The next wave
For some of these rookies admittance to the big leagues was a long time coming.
State of the Skate the year in review. (Soty Feature: State of the Skate)
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Now showing in your living room: bring your home theater up to snuff with the latest in DVD systems, big screens--and even a video fridge. (Gay Guide To Home Theater)
One former STS participant, among a group that includes five Nobel laureates, recalls the finalist competition as his introduction to the "big leagues of science."
Message in DNA tops Science Talent Search
The firm's rock bottom stock price indicates that Wall Street is no longer willing to pay for the aggressive, frenzied acquisition strategy that catapulted CHS into the big leagues of PC distribution.
CHS CRINGES Reuters
The 6-foot-4 Santana, who has played both the outfield and infield as a professional, is the son of former major league shortstop Rafael Santana, who played all or parts of seven years in the big leagues from 1983-90 for the Cardinals, Mets, Yankees and Indians, and won a World Series title in 1986 as the Mets' everyday shortstop.
Miners add versatile, experienced Santana
It's just neat getting up every morning knowing that I'm coming here, knowing that I'm having a chance to pitch in the big leagues.
Masterson settles in with big club
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