BIG DIPPER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does Big Dipper mean? 

• BIG DIPPER (noun)
  The noun BIG DIPPER has 2 senses:

1. a group of seven bright stars in the constellation Ursa Major

2. elevated railway in an amusement park (usually with sharp curves and steep inclines)

  Familiarity information: BIG DIPPER used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BIG DIPPER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A group of seven bright stars in the constellation Ursa Major

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Synonyms:

Big Dipper; Charles's Wain; Dipper; Plough; Wagon; Wain

Instance hypernyms:

asterism ((astronomy) a cluster of stars (or a small constellation))

Holonyms ("Big Dipper" is a part of...):

Great Bear; Ursa Major (a constellation outside the zodiac that rotates around the North Star)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Elevated railway in an amusement park (usually with sharp curves and steep inclines)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

big dipper; chute-the-chute; roller coaster

Hypernyms ("big dipper" is a kind of...):

el; elevated; elevated railroad; elevated railway; overhead railway (a railway that is powered by electricity and that runs on a track that is raised above the street level)

ride (a mechanical device that you ride for amusement or excitement)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "big dipper"):

hypercoaster (a roller coaster that goes up 200 feet or higher and can catapult riders from 0 to 70 mph in 4 seconds by motors originally designed to launch rockets)