gentle giant

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English

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Etymology

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From gentle +‎ giant. First use appears c. 1807 in a translated work. See cite below.

Noun

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gentle giant (plural gentle giants)

  1. (idiomatic) A person or animal of a great size or strength, yet who is of a friendly nature and not aggressive or threatening.
    • 1807, Francisco de Moraes, Luis Hurtado, Anthony Munday, Palmerin of England [also ascribed to L. Hurtado, originally translated by A. Munday, corrected by Robert Southey], page 112:
      ... lest he be should be brought into the like state as was the gentle giant.
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