Source : Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing

big-endian
     
        1.  A computer {architecture} in which,
        within a given multi-{byte} numeric representation, the most
        significant byte has the lowest address (the word is stored
        "big-end-first").
     
        Most processors, including the {IBM 370} family, the {PDP-10},
        the {Motorola} {microprocessor} families, and most of the
        various {RISC} designs current in mid-1993, are big-endian.
     
        See {-endian}.
     
        2.  A backward {electronic mail
        address}.  The world now follows the {Internet} {hostname}
        {standard} (see {FQDN}) and writes e-mail addresses starting
        with the name of the computer and ending up with the {country
        code} (e.g. [email protected]).  In the United Kingdom the
        {Joint Networking Team} decided to do it the other way round
        (e.g. [email protected]) before the {Internet} {domain}
        standard was established.  Most {gateway sites} required
        {ad-hockery} in their {mailers} to handle this.
     
        By July 1994 this parochial idiosyncracy was on the way out
        and mailers started to reject big-endian addresses.  By about
        1996, people would look at you strangely if you suggested such
        a bizarre thing might ever have existed.
     
        [{Jargon File}]
     
        (1998-08-09)