a large wine bottle having a capacity of two ordinary bottles or 1.5 liters (1.6 quarts).
2.
a magnum cartridge or firearm.
adjective
3.
(of a cartridge) equipped with a larger charge than other cartridges of the same size.
4.
(of a firearm) using such a cartridge.
5.
Informal. unusually great in power or size:
a magnum spotlight; a magnum dosage.
Origin
1780-90; < Latin, neuter of magnus large; in reference to firearms, orig. used as a trademark by the Smith and Wesson Co.
Examples from the web for magnum
You'd think that the omnipotent creator would have mentioned such a thing in its magnum opus.
He had the credentials before he wrote his magnum opus.
The spinal cord enters high on the skull through a hole called the foramen magnum.
The hole at the bottom of the skull where the spinal cord exits, known as the foramen magnum, is one clue.
The mid-point of the posterior margin of the foramen magnum.
The mid-point of the anterior margin of the foramen magnum.
Occasionally, they extend into the basilar part of the occipital nearly as far as the foramen magnum.
The same goes for the position of the foramen magnum.
In time-honored seafaring tradition, a magnum of champagne was sent crashing into the ship's hull.
The cord is continuous with the medulla oblongata at the foramen magnum.
British Dictionary definitions for magnum
magnum
/ˈmæɡnəm/
noun (pl) -nums
1.
a wine bottle holding the equivalent of two normal bottles (approximately 52 fluid ounces)
Word Origin
C18: from Latin: a big thing, from magnus large
Word Origin and History for magnum
n.
1788, "bottle containing two quarts of wine or spirits," from Latin magnum, neuter of magnus "great in size" (see magnate). Registered 1935 by Smith & Wesson Inc., of Springfield, Massachusetts, as the name of a powerful type of handgun.
magnum in Technology
A database language for DEC-10's, used internally by Tymshare, Inc.. MAGNUM was designed in the late 1970's by Dale Jordan, Rich Strauss and Dave McQuoid originally, and was written in BLISS-10. It was the world's first commercial relational database. It was in the process of being written in 1976. (1995-01-25)