GREAT. adj. A relative term, denoting largeness of quantity, number, &c. serving to augment the value of those terms with which it is combined, and opposed to small or little. The principal circumstances in which this term can be employed, are the following:
have
have a surface of great extent, without having any necessary connection with the size in other respects. But if we say, a great house, or a great river, it at once denotes that they have not only a large surface, but are also of great size in every respect.