a big fish

a big fish

An important, successful, or influential person. Meeting a big fish like the company's CEO can be quite an intimidating experience for an intern. I'd rather be a big fish in a small pond than move to New York City and be a nobody!
See also: big, fish

a big fish

COMMON If you call someone a big fish, you mean that they are important or powerful. The four who were arrested here last September were described as really big fish by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency.
See also: big, fish

a big ˈfish (in a little/small pond)

an important person but only in a small community, group, etc: I would rather stay here in the village and be a big fish in a little pond than go to the city where no one knows me.
See also: big, fish

big fish

n. the boss; the leader. (Underworld.) We took in the little guys, but the big fish got away.
See also: big, fish
References in classic literature ?
I think you are cut into baits by the screw, but you dreeft - dreeft to me, and I make a big fish of you.
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Laurence hooked up a big fish with the crooked end of his cane and held it out to her.
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One day, while he was watching the horses, he came to the banks of a river, and saw a big fish, which through some mischance had been cast on the land, struggling hard to get back into the water.
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