GREAT, adj. A relative word, 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 word can be employed are the following:
1. When merely inanimate objects are considered with regard to quantity, great is with propriety employed to denote that the quantity is considerable: as, a great mountain, great house, and the like; and it is here contrasted with small. When great is thus employed, we have no other word which is exactly synonymous.
2. When inanimate objects are considered with regard to their extent, this term is sometimes employed, although with less propriety; as, a great plain, a great
field, and the like. In this sense it is nearly synonymous with large; and these terms were often used indiscriminately, but with some difference of meaning; for, as large is a term chiefly employed to denote extent of superficies, and as great more particularly regards the quantity of matter, therefore, when large is applied to any object which is not merely superficial, it denotes that it is the extent of surface which is there meant to be considered, without regard to the other dimensions; whereas, when the term great is employed, it has reference to the whole contents. If, therefore, we say a large house, or a large river, we express that the house, or the river, has a surface of great extent, without having any necessary connexion with the size in other respects. But if we say a great house, or a great river, it at once denotes that these objects have not only a large surface, but are also of great size in every respect.
8. Great, when applied to the human species, never denotes the size or largeness of body, but is applied solely to the qualities of the mind. Thus when we say that Socrates was a great man, we do not mean that he was a man of great size, but that he was a man who excelled in the endowments of the mind. The terms which denote largeness of size in the human body are big, bulky, huge.
4. Great is sometimes applied to the human species, as denoting high rank. In this case it is oftener used in the plural number than otherwise. Thus we say simply the great, meaning the whole body of men in high station, as opposed to the mean. It should seldom be employed in this sense, as it tends to confound dignity of rank with elevation of mind.
5. As this is a general term of augmentation, it may be joined with all nouns which denote quantity, quality, number, excellence, or defects; or such as imply praise, blame, anger, contempt, or any other affection of the mind.
6. It is employed to denote every step of ascending or descending consanguinity, as great-grandfather, great-grandson, and so on.