Lexic.us

Definition of Big ben

1. Noun. Clock in the clock tower of the Houses of Parliament, London.

Definition of Big ben

1. Proper noun. (''strictly'') The hour bell in the Clock Tower, adjacent to the Houses of Parliament in London in the United Kingdom. ¹

2. Proper noun. (''popularly'') The Clock Tower itself. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Lexicographical Neighbors of Big Ben

Literary usage of Big ben

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. The Book of Days: A Miscellany of Popular Antiquities in Connection with the by Robert Chambers (1832)
"Thus was big ben the second cast on the 10th of April, taken out of the mould on ... During November, big ben underwent a long series of blows with hammers ..."

2. A Handy Book of Curious Information: Comprising Strange Happenings in the by William Shepard Walsh (1913)
"From that day on the bell, whose peal '•tery Londoner knows, has been known only as " big ben." The present big ben is the second of the name that has hung ..."

3. Punch by Mark Lemon, Henry Mayhew, Tom Taylor, Shirley Brooks, Francis Cowley Burnand, Owen Seaman (1879)
"big ben had struck Nine ! ****** The Deputy Assistant-Sergeant entering the apartment was horror-struck to find the ancient Chief Sergeant still stretched ..."

4. St. James's Magazine by S. C. Hall (1864)
""big ben." [At mid-day on the 6th of November, the Great Bell of Westminster ... "big ben!" He calls again From his silver-sheeted throat ; Over the town, ..."

5. The English Illustrated Magazine (1890)
"generation after generation of London school-boys to whistle out of tune, Big Ben is again my justifier. To think that the Lords and Commons should have sat ..."

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