Good News Brothers and Sisters: The phrase Big Brother has found its way into everyday speech, and can be found in the Merriam-Webster dictionary: big brother, n. 1 : an older brother; 2 : a man who befriends a delinquent or friendless boy; 3 : capitalized (both Bs: Big Brother), personification of the power of the state in 1984 (1949) by George Orwell] a: the leader of an authoritarian state or movement b: an all-powerful government or organization monitoring and directing people's actions.