biggen

biggen

English

Etymology 1

From big +‎ -en. More at big.

Verb

biggen (third-person singular simple present biggens, present participle biggening, simple past and past participle biggened)

  1. (rare, obsolete) To make bigger
    • 1837, Ebenezer Elliott, “Rhymed Rambles”, in Tait's Edinburgh Magazine, page 89:
      Our spirits, biggened by their griefs and fears, Sadden and dwindle, with their backward view, All they behold.
    • 1898, Margaret Georgina Todd, Mona Maclean, Medical Student, page 359:
      What has biggened it?
    • 1914, The Cornhill Magazine[1], volume 104, page 414:
      We both belong to a big State, and it's growing bigger every day. I like to think that in my small way I'm helping to biggen it.

Etymology 2

Verb

biggen

  1. Pronunciation spelling of begin.

Anagrams

Dutch

Pronunciation

  • Audio:(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɪɣən

Noun

biggen

  1. plural of big

Anagrams

Middle English

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Old Norse byggja.

Alternative forms

Verb

biggen

  1. build
    • a. 1450, John Lydgate:
      Thy place is bygged above the sterres clere
      Your house is built above the shining stars.
    • 14th c., Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Stanza 1:
      Fro riche Romulus to Rome ricchis hym swyþe,
      With gret bobbaunce þat burȝe he biges vpon fyrst,
      & neuenes hit his aune nome, as hit now hat
      Swiftly rich Romulus reaches to Rome;
      that burg, with boasting, he builds up first,
      and names it his own name, as it now has.
  2. dwell
Derived terms
References

Etymology 2

Verb

biggen

  1. alternative form of bien

Northern Sami

Pronunciation

  • (Kautokeino) IPA(key): /ˈpiːɡːɡen/

Verb

bīggen

  1. first-person singular past indicative of bieggat

Scots

Verb

biggen

  1. to be pregnant