Idiom trickery

[lettered]

Can you tell me what you mean when you say "bite the big one"?
And is it different from "bought the big one"?

Does either one mean to die? 'Cause. I need to make a fish joke.

Comments

[rahirah]

To bite the big one is die. Or less frequently, to fail or be unpleasant in a spectacular way.

[tkp.livejournal.com]

This is what my slang dictionary said! But from all the people I've talked to today, "bite the big one" is either unheard of, or most often means "that sucked"--as in failed in a spectacular way. Huh. Idioms are weird. I can never quite figure out what some mean.