Definitions
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. . A child's cap.
- n. 2. A nightcap.
- n. . In England, the coif of a serjeant at law.
- n. 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.
- n. A small wooden vessel; a can.
- n. A kind of coffee-pot containing a strainer for the infusion of the coffee, without allowing the grounds to mix with the infusion.
Wiktionary
- n. A child's cap; (figuratively) childhood.
- n. An official's hood or coif.
- n. Coffee pot that has separate areas for heating the coffee and water.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A child's cap; a hood, or something worn on the head.
- n. 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.
- n. A building.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a child's tight-fitting cap; often ties under the chin
Examples
“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
“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.”
“When was the last time Diddy really was 'biggin' up his brother ', not biggin' up his bank? ”
““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.””
“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.”
“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
“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.”
“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.”
“My biggin 'stands sweet on this south slopin' hill,”
The Modern Scottish Minstrel , Volume I. The Songs of Scotland of the past half century
“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
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘biggin’.
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Gene Wolfe
Please contribute your favorite words from any of Gene Wolfe’s books to this prize-winning list.
In case you come across words in this list which are too commonplace to fit in, please ...gallipot, roost, badelaire, oblesque, execration, dhole, amschaspand, arctother, chalcedony, penitence, asimi, autarch and 839 more...
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Jugs
aludel, aljofaina, pig, chytra, gallipot, brown-george, coffee-pot, cezve, ibrik, biggin, drip pot, water-jug and 73 more...
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Historical Costume Box
This is just sort of my "unsorted pit" of costumes to be organized later. It's a really broad topic, so right now, anything goes! Thanks for the contributions!
baldric, bliaut, coif, cote-hardie, farthingale, houppelande, partlet, tabard, kirtle, wimple, buskin, greatcoat and 33 more...
reesetee A cap that ties under the chin, worn during the 16th and 17th centuries. Nov 14, 2007