Meanings
big smoke1
- AustraliauncountableAny large city.
I got a transfer in my bank job and on the first day on the job in the big smoke I had to share a teller's box with a young lady called Kim, a real spunk and my future wife.
1995, Paul Vautin, Turn It Up!, Sydney: Pan Macmillan Australia, page 82
Big Smoke2
- UKinformalLondon.
The first man I spoke to was Whitechapel to the backbone, plainly to be spotted as such as if it had been tattooed on his forehead. Making myself at home with him, I desired to know what brought him so far from the "big smoke," and on board a whaler of all places in the world.
1898, Frank Thomas Bullen, The Cruise of the CachalotSynonyms: the Smoke
- CanadainformalToronto.
- broadlyAny large city.
Synonyms & antonyms
proper nounLondon.
proper nounDublin.
Cite this entry
big smoke. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/big%20smoke
“big smoke.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/big%20smoke. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “big smoke,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/big%20smoke.
Source: big smoke on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.