biggity

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

Apparently from big + -y, a suffix used to form adjectives meaning “having the quality of”, with an arbitrary middle syllable; compare uppity. Alternately, perhaps from big + -ety, a suffix used to extend monosyllabic words; compare hot diggety, hippity-hop. Attested in the Southern United States since the late nineteenth century.

Adjective

biggity (comparative more biggity, superlative most biggity)

  1. (US, African American Vernacular) Conceited, uppity.
    • 1883, Mark Twain, chapter 58, in Life on the Mississippi:
      [T]he captains were very independent and airy—pretty ‘biggity,’ as Uncle Remus would say.
    • 1900, Charles W. Chesnutt, chapter 33, in The House Behind The Cedars:
      "Oh, Jeff Wain!" returned the countryman slightingly; "yas, I knows 'im, an' don' know no good of 'im. One er dese yer biggity, braggin' niggers—talks lack he own de whole county."
    • 1929, William Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury, Folio Society 2016, p. 15:
      “Aint you talking biggity. I bet you better not let your grandmammy hear you talking like that.”

Synonyms

References

This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.