Definition of "big enchilada" [big enchilada]

• Slang One who is in charge: "[the President's] big enchilada on both foreign and domestic policy” ( Mary McGrory). (noun)
• Slang Something of the highest value or importance: "[The team] won the big enchilada in 1980 and 1982” ( Scott Ostler). (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Teaching Chief Steckel’s daughter to shoot a .22 and ride a horse earned him a sergeantcy, tours in Bunco, Robbery and the big enchilada — Narcotics."