biggins

Noun (1)

biggin (plural biggins)

1. (archaic) A child's cap; (figuratively) childhood.
   • […] my brain has been topsy-turvy, they say, ever since the biggin was bound first round my head; so turning me upside down may peradventure restore it again.1819, Walter Scott, Ivanhoe
2. (historical) An official's hood or coif.

Noun (2)

biggin (plural biggins)

1. A coffee pot with a strainer or perforated metallic vessel for holding the ground coffee, through which boiling water is poured.
   • As he became more popular, household objects were brought into requisition for his instruction in a copious vocabulary; and whenever he appeared in the Yard ladies would fly out at their doors crying ‘Mr Baptist—tea-pot!’ ‘Mr Baptist—dust-pan!’ ‘Mr Baptist—flour-dredger!’ ‘Mr...1855 December – 1857 June, Charles Dickens, Little Dorrit, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1857, →OCLC

Noun (3)

biggin (plural biggins)

1. A drinking vessel for ale or beer; possibly a tankard.
   • Oswald's wife then put before him a large pie, and some wheaten bread, with a biggin of good beer.1847, Frederick Marryat, chapter 14, in The Children of the New Forest, England: H. Hurst

See all 8 meanings of biggin