little thing—
1. a small child:
- There are the shops where she used to buy me toys when I was a little thing.
2. is used as a term of endearment:
- Poor little thing! He misses his mammy, you know!
3. smth. unimportant; a mere trifle:
- I never saw such an excitement over a little thing in Arkansas as there was over that debate.
small thing— = little thing 3:
- The First World War was fought over a small thing. A scrap of paper.
Cf.: big thing—smth. of considerable importance:
- The big thing for guys is jeans or slacks, button-down shirts and brown loafers without socks.
Note: The expression does not correlate in meaning with the phrase do that small thing—(coll.) do smth. indicated in a previous statement:
- “I’m going to have a bath.” “Darling, you do that small thing!”