granddaddy

granddaddy

English

Alternative forms

• grandaddy

Etymology

grand- +‎ daddy

Noun

granddaddy (plural granddaddies)

1. (informal) A grandfather.
2. (informal) Something that is the greatest or most significant of its kind.
   • 2007, W. Randall Jones, Julie M. Fenster, The Greatest Stock Picks of All Time, Crown Business (→ISBN), page 245:

     In the far corner, representing the twentieth century, is the granddaddy of all common stocks, AT&T. Here is a company that earned its place in the pantheon of great stocks simply by increasing its dividend for an absurdly long period of time.

   • 2010, Sean Michael Flynn, Land of the Radioactive Midnight Sun: A Cheechako's First Year in Alaska, Macmillan (→ISBN), page 129:

     The region, with its twenty-two hours of summer daylight, is now known for its giant vegetables that include six-foot-wide cauliflower, eighteen-pound carrots, fifty-pound celery, and the granddaddy of all giant vegetables, the Alaskan cabbage ...

   • 2012, Earl Fee, The Wonder of It All, Trafford Publishing (→ISBN), page 173:

     A hundred years from now or two-hundred years from now they will speak of this tsunami of all tsunami's— the granddaddy of all tsunami's.

   • For more examples of usage of this term, see Citations:grand-daddy.

Synonyms

• (grandfather): gramps, pops
• (most significant thing): mother, father, grandfather

Translations

grandfather

Dutch: bompa (nl), opa (nl)

References

• 2013, Christine Ammer, The Dictionary of Clichés: A Word Lover's Guide to 4,000 Overused Phrases and Almost-Pleasing Platitudes, Skyhorse (→ISBN):

  This colloquialism dates from about 1900 and is never applied to a person. For example, “That was the granddaddy of all hurricanes, according to the weather forecaster.” The Persian Gulf War of 1991 gave rise to a similar locution, the mother of all ...