▪ I. hog, n.1
(hɒg)
Also 4(?)–6 hogge, 6– hogg.
[First exemplified c 1340, but the derivative hoggaster occurs c 1175: origin unknown.
The word may possibly be contained in the OE. place-names Hocgestán (Hogston) and Hocgetwistle; but this is hardly likely. The conjecture that ME. hog represented Cornish hoch, Welsh hwch, swine, is improbable on phonetic and other grounds. The evidence afforded by the word itself and by its derivatives hoggaster, hoggerel, hogget (the first of which, applied to sheep, offers our earliest example of the word-group), makes it probable that the word originally had reference to the age or condition of the animal, rather than to either pig or sheep distinctively. Hence some have thought hog possibly related to hag v.1, with the notion of castration. But the notion of ‘yearling’ runs through most of the uses: cf. 2 b, 4, 4 b, 5, 13 b. In this uncertainty, the order of senses followed is merely one of practical convenience.]
I. 1. a. A swine reared for slaughter; spec. a castrated male swine, a barrow-pig or barrow-hog (see barrow2 1 b); hence, a domestic swine generally. (Not used in Scotland.)
(The original application may either refer to the age, swine reared for the purpose of slaughter being seldom allowed to exceed much more than one year in age, or to the fact that the males intended for this purpose are usually castrated: see etym. note.)
| 1340 Ayenb. 89 Of hare moder þe erþe, þet berþ and norysseþ azewel þe hogges, ase hy deþ þe kinges. 13.. K. Alis. 1885 Alisaunder & alle his kniȝttes Hem to pieces þai gonne talle, To bocher þat hog vpon his stalle. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. vi. 183 ‘Suffre hem lyue’ he sayde, ‘and lete hem ete with hogges’. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xviii. lxxxvii. (1495) 837 Hogges bothe male and female haue lykynge to ete Akernes for it tempreth theyr flesshe. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 242/1 Hogge, swyne, nefrendis, maialis. 1474 Caxton Chesse 83 Whan he wold haue buryed the body he founde hit an hogge or a swyne and not a man. 1483 Cath. Angl. 187/1 An Hogge, maialis, est enim porcus carens testiculis. 1530 Palsgr. 231/2 Hogge, porc, porceau. 1552 Huloet, Hogge called a barrow hogge or galt, maias... Hogge ungelt, verres. 1644 Evelyn Diary 30 Sept., A dish of trufles, an earth nut, found out by an hogg train'd to it. 1707 Mortimer Husb. (1708) 186 The Males must be gelt, and the Sows spay'd; the spay'd Gelts..they esteem the most profitable, because of the great Quantity of Fat that they have upon their Inwards more than the Hogs. 1756–7 tr. Keysler's Trav. (1760) I. 433 It is remarkable, that in the Milanese all the hogs are black. 1846 J. Baxter Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4) II. 190 Hogs will thrive very fast when fed on it [parsnip], and will leave any other food to attack it. |
b. bacon-hog, a hog fattened for making bacon.
| 1612 J. Taylor (Water P.) Trav. Wks. (1872) 35 For most of them are as full of humanity as a bacon-hog. 1860 J. Donaldson Brit. Agric. 490 Two lots of bacon hogs may be fattened during the curing season from October to April. |
c. U.S. The flesh of the pig; pork; in alliterative
phr. hog and hominy, pork and Indian corn.
| 1776 W. Hooper in Lett. James Murray (1901) 239 That I might enjoy in my own Cabin, eat my Hogg & Hominee without anything to make me afraid. 1816 Mass. Spy 10 Jan. (Th.), [If a man] can be content with hog and hommany, he can live easier in Ohio. a 1860 Thorpe Big Bear Arkansas (Bartlett), I can give you plenty to eat; for, besides hog and hominy, you can have bar [bear] ham and bar sausages. 1870 Daily News 21 Oct., From abundant hog and hominy down to the last lean mule. 1888 Century Mag. XXXVI. 261/2 Corn-bread and bacon, or, in purer vernacular, ‘hog and hominy’. 1948 E. N. Dick Dixie Frontier 290 The monotonous diet was often referred to as ‘hog and hominy’. |
2. a. Used as the name of the species, and so including the wild boar and sow:
= swine.
b. Formerly
spec. a wild boar of the second year:
cf. hoggaster.
| c 1483 in Hall Chron., Rich. III (1548) 18 The Rat, the Catte and Lovell our dogge Rule al England vnder the hogge. [1548 Hall Comment, Meanynge by the hogge, the dreadfull wylde bore which was the kinges cognisaunce.] 1486 Bk. St. Albans E iij a, The boore..is..the secunde yere an hogge. 1660 Howell Lexicon 111, A wild Bore, the first year a Pigg, the 2. a Hogg, the 3. a Hoggsteer, the 4. a Bore, the 5. a Cingular. 1766 Pennant Zool. (1768) I. 41 The hog is certainly the most impure and filthy of all quadrupeds. 1807 T. Williamson Oriental Field Sports (1808) I. 34 In grass covers a hog is often started, hunted, and killed, without being seen till he is dead. 1835 Swainson Quadrup. 224 It is generally supposed..that the wild hog, or boar, is the origin of our domestic swine. |
3. Applied, with distinguishing epithet, to different species of the family Suidæ. See also ground-, river-, sea-, water-hog.
| 1732 Gentlem. Guide to Cattle (ed. 2) 109 The Bantam-Hogs, and the African Hogs from whence those of Hartfordshire are derived. 1781–5 W. Smellie tr. Buffon's Nat. Hist. (1791) VII. 58 The Babiroussa or Indian Hog. 1788 Chambers' Cycl. s.v., Of this genus are the common hog, the Guinea hog or Porcus Guineensis, the Mexican musk hog or Tajacu, the hydrochæris or Capybara, and the Babyroussa. 1856 Knight Cycl. Nat. Hist. IV. 964 Aelian's Wart-Hog is a native of the North of Africa. 1860 Chambers's Encycl., Babyroussa..sometimes called the Horned Hog. Ibid. s.v., The Bush Hog of South Africa..is about two feet six inches high, covered with long bristles. |
II. 4. (Freq. in form
hogg.) A name given to a sheep of a certain age.
a. In Scotland and many parts of
Engl. a young sheep from the time it ceases to be a lamb till its first shearing: see
quot. 1842–4.
| [1350 Bp. Hatfield's Surv. (Surtees) 226 Hogs et Jercs. Et de x hogs et jercs de remanentibus. Summa x.] c 1460 Towneley Myst. xiii. 456 And of fefteyn hogys ffond I bot oone ewe. 1549 Compl. Scot. vi. 66 Ȝouis and lammis..and mony herueist hog. 1606 Choice, Chance etc. (1881) 17 The Sheepheard he would..talke of his Rammes and his Weathers, of his Ewes and his Lambs, his hogs and his sheerlings. 1674–91 Ray N.C. Words 38 A Hog, a Sheep of a year old; used also in Northampton and Leicester shires, where they also call it a Hoggrel. 1732 Gentlem. Guide to Cattle (ed. 2) 12, I have seen those of a year old..which we call Hogs, or Hoggets, bring Lambs. 1842–4 H. Stephens Bk. of Farm (1851) 924 After a lamb has been weaned, until the first fleece is shorn from its back, it receives the name of hogg. 1867 Gainsborough News 23 Mar., 200 lambed and in⁓lamb ewes and gimmers, 200 he hogs, 140 she hogs. 1899 Daily News 21 Apr. 7/4 North hoggs and Yorkshire Wold hoggs are becoming scarce. 1963 Times 13 May 16/7 In six lamb crops, starting as a hogg, she has produced and reared 20 lambs. |
b. With distinguishing epithets as
chilver-hog or
ewe-hog,
tup-hog,
wether-hog, etc.
| 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 495 The first year we call it in English a Lamb, so the second year a Hog, Lam⁓hog, or Teg if it be a female, the third year Hoggrils and Theives. 1614 Markham Cheap Husb. (1623) 106 The first year a male Lambe is called a weather-Hog and a female Lambe an Ewe-Hog. 1618–9 N. Riding Rec. II. 190 An old Malton man presented for stealing a gimmer hogge value 10d. 1794 T. Davis Agric. Wilts in Archæol. Rev. (1888) Mar., Sheep,..wether-hogs, chilver-hogs from thence [Christmas] till shear-time. 1866 Brande & Cox Dict. Sci. etc. II. 138 A lamb becomes a teg in its first winter, and afterwards a hogget; and on losing its coat a shearhog. 1882 Somerset Co. Gaz. 18 Mar., 12 good ewe and wether hogs, warranted sound. |
c. Short for
hog-fleece,
-wool.
| 1854 A. E. Baker Northampt. Gloss., Hog, a yearling sheep, which has only been shorn once..Applied equally to the animal and to the fleece. 1879 Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 259/2 The fleeces shorn from sheep which have not previously been shorn as lambs, are called hogs or tegs..‘hog’ applies properly to the first shorn fleece of any long-stapled wool. 1884 York Herald 26 Aug. 7/3 The trade in wool remains firm..all hog made from 11s. to 12s. 3d. per stone. |
III. 5. Applied (chiefly in comb.) to various domestic animals of a year old. See
hog-bull,
-colt, in 13 b.
| 1775 Ash, Hog, a bullock of a year old. a 1893 Wilts. Arch. Mag. XVII. 303 (Wilts. Gloss.) The word hog is now applied to any animal of a year old, such as a hog bull, a chilver hog sheep. |
6. Short for
hog-fish.
| 1623 Whitbourne Newfoundland 9 The Sea likewise all along that Coast, doe plentifully abound in other sorts of fish, as Whales..Herring, Hogs, Porposes. |
IV. 7. fig. Applied opprobriously to a person.
a. A coarse, self-indulgent, gluttonous, or filthy person.
| 1436 Libel in Pol. Poems (Rolls) II. 171 Thus arn they hogges; and drynkyn wele ataunt; ffare wel, Flemynge! 1546 J. Heywood Prov. (1867) 76 Ye haue bene so veraie a hog, To my freendis. 1594 Shakes. Rich. III, i. iii. 228 Thou eluish mark'd, abortiue rooting Hogge. 1727 Gay Molly Mog viii, Who follows all ladies of pleasure, In pleasure is thought but a hog. 1890 Besant Demoniac ii. 20, ‘I am a hog! I am a hog!’ he said..‘I made no resistance; I drank because I was thirsty’. |
b. A nickname for the members of
St. John's College, Cambridge.
| 1690 De la Pryme Diary (Surtees) 20 For us Jonians are called abusively hoggs. 1795 Gentl. Mag. LXV. i. 22/1 The Johnian hogs were originally remarkable, on account of the squalid figures and low habits of the students. 1890 C. Whibley In Cap & Gown xxvii, Perhaps..Johnians were only called ‘Hogs’ because they were fond of good living. |
c. A person who behaves in a rude mannerless fashion without respect for the safety or convenience of others;
esp. in
road hog n.| 1906 Daily Chron. 2 Feb. 7/3 Showing to the astounded heathens (save the word) the latest game of ‘hog-amok’. 1928 Daily Mail 25 July 17/4 So far we have met no ‘canal hogs’. 1942 Topeka (Kan.) Capital 16 May 7/2 The Office of Price Administration made things unpleasant for ‘gas hogs’ tonight. |
8. slang. A shilling. In
U.S., a ten-cent piece.
| 1673 R. Head Canting Acad., Shilling, Bord or Hog. 1725 New Cant. Dict. (Farmer), Half a Hog, Six-Pence. 1809 M. Edgeworth Ennui (1815) 74 ‘A hog to drink my health?’ ‘Ay, that is a thirteen, plase your honour; all as one as an English shilling.’ 1859 Mastell Voc., Hog, a ten-cent piece. 1875 Cruikshank 3 Courses & Dessert 412 What's half a crown and a shilling? A bull and a hog. |
9. A name given to various contrivances.
a. A sort of broom or scrubbing-brush for cleaning a ship's bottom.
| 1769 Falconer Dict. Marine (1789), Goret..a hog, or large brush to scrub the ship's bottom under water. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Hog, a kind of rough, flat scrubbing broom, serving to scrape a ship's bottom under water. |
b. Paper-making. A revolving stirrer in a chest of paper pulp which agitates the pulp so as to keep it of uniform consistence.
| 1807 Specif. Cobb's Patent No. 3084. 2 Agitators or hogs..are placed in the said vats to keep the pulp duly suspended. |
c. Hop-drying (see
quot.)
| 1848 Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. IX. ii. 570 It is a very good precaution..to have horses or hogs (as these plates, resting upon open brickwork, are called) over the fires, when there are three to the same space. |
d. A railway locomotive used for hauling freight.
U.S. slang.| 1888 Walla Walla (Wash.) Union 24 Nov. 3/4 The ‘hog’ will haul nine loaded cars up the heavy Alto grade, while the ordinary road engine had a hard tussel to haul four or five. 1903 Sci. Amer. 23 May 392/2 In anthracite drifts steam locomotives of a small and peculiar type known as ‘hogs’ haul the trains. 1960 Listener 18 Aug. 250/2 A steam locomotive is a ‘hog’ or ‘pig’. |
e. Forestry. (See
quots.)
| 1898 Lumber Trade Jrnl. 1 Jan. 31 (Advt.), The big slab grinding hog for grinding up slabs, edgings and mill refuse into fuel. 1904 Dialect Notes II. 398 Hog, a machine for grinding logs. 1913 Webster, Hog, a machine with revolving knife cutters for grinding up edgings and slabs. 1957 Brit. Commonw. Forest Terminol. ii. 93 Hog, a machine for reducing wood to coarse chips, usually for converting mill waste into fuel. 1969 Timber Trades Jrnl. 29 Nov. 57/3 Waste blocks..are often chuted..on to a conveyor which automatically takes them to a refuse hog. |
f. A large, often old, car or motor-cycle.
U.S. slang.| 1967 W. Murray Sweet Ride vii. 112 The heat was on so bad we couldn't ride our bikes... Get on our hogs and them mothers'd pick us up. 1968–70 Current Slang (Univ. S. Dakota) III–IV. 68 Hog,..an old, heavy Harley Davidson motor-cycle... 1956 or 1958 Cadillac; any large car which takes up all the road. 1971 Black Scholar Jan. 41/1 He bought him a ‘Hog’ with all the accessories on it. Man, this Cadillac had air horns, white-walls, [etc.]. 1971 P. L. Cave Chopper v. 45 Pulling away, he swung the hog round in a wide U-turn and went after Ethel. |
10. Curling. A stone which has not sufficient impetus to carry it over the hog-score or distance-line. Also, the distance-line itself, the hog-score.
| a 1772 Graeme Curling 43 His opponent is glad, Yet fears a sim'lar fate, while ev'ry mouth Cries, Off the hog. 1824 J. Mactaggart Gallovid. Encycl. 274 Sweeping is not allowed until the stone comes over the ‘hogg’, unless by the person who played it. 1853 W. Watson Poems 63 Stan' back at the hog wi' a besom. 1856 ‘Stonehenge’ Brit. Sports (1859) 512 Every stone to be considered a hog which does not clear a square placed upon the score. 1897 Encycl. Sport I. 258 It [sc. a stone] must be over the Hog, but must not touch the Stone to be guarded. |
V. 11. Phrases and locutions. Chiefly belonging to sense 1.
like or as a hog on ice, denoting independence, awkwardness, or insecurity (
U.S. colloq.).
| 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 24 Cast not your perles before hogges. 1546 J. Heywood Prov. (1867) 38 Euery man basteth the fat hog we see, But the leane shall burne er he basted bee. 1587 L. Mascall Govt. Cattle (1627) 270 Where⁓fore the common saying is, the hog is neuer good but when he is in the dish. 1638 Clarke Phraseol. Puer. 76 Triticum advexi & hordeum vendo..I have brought my hogges to a faire market. c 1645 Milton Sonn. xii, But this is got by casting pearls to hogs. 1660 Howell Eng. Prov. 5 You have spun a fair threed, you have brought your hogs to a fair market. Spoken in derision when a business hath sped ill. Ibid. 13 A great cry and little wool, quoth the Devil when he sheard the hogg. 1670 Ray Prov. (1768) 11 Better my hog dirty home than no hog at all. Ibid. 196 To make a hog or a dog of a thing. 1670–1705 [see halfpennyworth]. 1705 Hickeringill Priest-cr. i. (1721) 64 He truly setting the Tail on another Hog, affrighted the good King off the Bench. 1738 Swift Pol. Conversat. ii. Wks. 1766 XI. 207 He..snor'd so hard, that we thought he was driving his hogs to market. 1748 Smollett Rod. Rand. xli, I should have remembered the old saying, Every hog his own apple. 1857 San Francisco Call 19 Apr. 2/3 He don't appear to care nothing for nobody—he's ‘as independent as a hog on ice!’ 1882 Handbk. Prov. 166 What can you expect of a hog but his bristles? 1894 Vermont Agric. Rep. XIV. 124 How would a Hackney look going around the track after old Highland Gray? ‘Like a hog on ice.’ 1922 C. Sandburg Slabs of Sunburnt West 8 Chicago fished from its depths a text: Independent as a hog on ice. 1948 Time 9 Aug. 18/2 They like to think of themselves as independents—independent as a hog on ice. |
b. to go the whole hog: To go all the way, to do the thing thoroughly (
slang); hence, in derivative uses.
[Many conjectural explanations have been offered. But
cf. Cowper
Hypocrisy Detected (1779) 12 [by J. Newton] But for one piece they thought it hard From the whole hog to be debarred; And set their wit at work to find What joint the prophet had in mind.
Ibid. 22 Thus, Conscience freed from every clog, Mahometans eat up the hog.]
| 1828 in G. T. Curtis Life D. Webster (1870) I. 337 [Andrew Jackson] will either go with the party, as they say in New York, or go ‘the whole hog’, as it is phrased elsewhere. 1829 Virginia Herald (Fredericksburg) 28 Mar. 2/3 We all know that of late he has shown a disposition to become ‘a whole hog man’, but if he can swallow this, he can swallow anything. 1830 Galt Lawrie T. ii. i. (1849) 43, I reckon Squire Lawrie may go the whole hog with her. 1835 H. C. Todd Notes Canada & U.S.A. 46 In Virginia originated Go the whole hog, a political phrase marking the democrat from a federalist. 1837–40 Haliburton Clockm. (1862) 21 We never fairly knew what goin the whole hog was till then. 1839 Times 11 Apr., If so, let him ‘go the whole hog’ in candour. 1840 Boston Advert. 30 June 3/3 Mr. Yorke would have been just the man for the Boston ‘whole-hoggites’. 1852 Househ. Words 31 July 474/1 When a Virginian butcher kills a pig, he is said to ask his customers whether they will ‘go the whole hog’, as, in such case, he sells at a lower price than if they pick out the prime joints only. 1853 Tait's Mag. XX. 414 Stage morality, moreover, finds in Mr. Burke a whole-hogg defender. 1857 Hughes Tom Brown ii. ii, Yes, he's a whole⁓hog man is Tom. 1876 Kingston Hist. Brit. Navy 533 Russia has gone the whole hog, and has now produced two circular monitors. 1914 D. H. Lawrence Prussian Officer 207 Do you mean to say you used to go—the whole hogger? 1928 Daily Chron. 3 Nov. 4 The whole-hoggers argue that that statement leaves the position more ambiguous than before. 1929 S. Anderson in Mercury Story Book 234, I went the whole hog. 1964 R. H. Gerhard in D. Abercrombie et al. Daniel Jones 283 Bloomfield who first adopted it ‘whole hog’. 1973 Times 28 Mar. 4/4 He does not go the whole hog with his father in his belief in the arcane and ancient mysteries of [bacon-]smoking. |
c. to live high off (also on) the hog, etc.: see
high adv. 9 b.
VI. 12. General comb.
a. attributive, as
hog-butcher,
hog-farm,
hog-fat,
hog-grunt,
hog-hunt,
hog-market,
hog-merchant,
hog-spear,
hog-yard, etc. Also, in sense ‘Like that of a hog, hog-like’, as
hog rump,
hog shoulder.
| 1707 A. van Leeuwenhoek in Phil. Trans. XXVI. 114, I also caused a *Hog-Butcher to bring me divers Tongues of Hogs. |
| 1699 W. Dampier Voy. II. 98 There are abundance of Crawls or *Hog-farms. |
| 1749 Fielding Tom Jones xviii. vi, One would have thought that..I had been the greatest *hog-merchant in England. |
| 1679 Lond. Gaz. No. 1436/4 Also a bay Mare, with a *hog rump. |
| 1807 T. Williamson Oriental Field Sports (1808) I. 40 They [bamboos] serve as shafts to mount *hog-spears. |
| 1657 W. Coles Adam in Eden lviii, In such places as these cattle do commonly dung, abundance of this plant [henbane] groweth as in *Hog-yards. |
b. objective and
obj. genitive, as
hog-driver,
hog-feeder,
hog-hunter;
hog-farming,
hog-feeding,
hog-hunting,
hog-raising,
hog-serving,
hog-shearing.
| a 1704 T. Brown in R. L'Estrange tr. Erasm. Colloq. (1711) 335 Let me die if I wou'd not sooner marry my daughter to..a *hog-driver. |
| 1552 Huloet, *Hogge feader, porculator. |
| 1790 Sir M. Hunter Journ. (1894) 79 At Wallajabad we had the finest *hog-hunting that ever was. |
| 1661 K. W. Conf. Charac. (1860) 88 She to *hog-serving, to hackling, to spinning. |
| 1662 Martin Lett. 95 [The] hideous cry of *Hoggshearing, where..wee have a great deal of noise, and no Wool. |
c. parasynthetic, as
hog-buttocked,
hog-faced,
hog-necked adjs.; also
hog-backed.
| 1692 Lond. Gaz. No. 2730/4 A thin Horse, *Hog Buttock'd. |
| 1640 (title) A certaine Relation of the *Hog-faced Gentlewoman called Mistris Tannakin Skinker. |
| 1793 Holcroft Lavater's Physiog. xl. 212 Horses are divided into..the swan-necked, the stag-necked and the *hog-necked. |
d. The possessive case
hog's is also largely used in quasi-combinations, as
hog's bristle,
hog dung,
hog foot,
hog hair,
hog lard, etc. (hyphened when
attrib.).
| 1693 C. Mather Wond. Invis. World (1862) 137 Several Poppets, made up of Rags and *Hogs-bristles. |
| 1611 Cotgr., Onglons de pourceau, *hogs-feet singed, then sodden vntill they be verie tender, then broyled [etc.]. |
| 1819 Rees Cycl. s.v. Back-Painting, With a *hog's-hair brush. |
| 1688 Boyle Wks. (1772) V. 372 Take rue..with May or other unsalted butter, or else with fresh *hogs-lard. c 1865 Letheby in Circ. Sc. I. 94/2 Hog's lard is fluid at 81°. |
13. Special comb.:
a. † hog-babe, a sucking-pig;
hog-cholera, the swine-fever;
hog-cistern,
† hog-loom, a receptacle for pig-wash;
hog-constable = hog-reeve;
hog-feast (see
quot.);
hog('s)-flesh, pork;
hog('s)-grease, the lard or fat of a hog; hence
hog-grease vb., to smear with hog's grease;
† hog-grubber, a mean or sneaking fellow; hence
hog-grubbing adj.;
hog-head U.S. slang, the driver of a locomotive;
hog-house, a shed in which swine are kept;
hog-jobber, a dealer in hogs;
hog-Latin, bad, spurious, or mongrel Latin;
hog-line Curling, the distance-line (
= hog-score);
hog-loom (see
hog-cistern above);
hog-man, a swineherd;
hog('s)-meat, pork;
hog-plague, the swine-fever;
hog-potato, an inferior or small potato used to feed swine;
hog-pound, a pigsty;
hog-ring, a ring or bent wire put into the snout of a pig to prevent grubbing;
hog-ringer, one who fastens rings in pigs' snouts; a kind of pincers used for the purpose;
† hog-rubber, one who rubs hogs; hence, a term of opprobrium;
† hog's-face, a person with a face like a hog's; a term of opprobrium;
hog-tight a., said of fences which are close enough to prevent swine from forcing their way through;
hog-wallow, a hollow or ditch in which pigs wallow; also,
spec. in
U.S., a natural depression having this appearance;
hog-ward, a keeper of hogs; a swine-herd;
hog-wild a., wild in the manner of a hog;
hog('s)-yoke, (
a) a frame of wood put round a hog's neck to prevent its getting through hedges; (
b) a quadrant.
| 1610 Healey St. Aug. Citie of God 170 Lette him bee Potina and suckle the *hog-babes. |
| 1881 Chicago Times 16 Apr., Loss of..hogs in this state from so-called *hog cholera. |
| 1865 N. & Q. 3rd Ser. VII. 295 The Huntingdonshire *hog-feast is the domestic rejoicing that follows upon that important event in a cottager's family—the killing of a pig. |
| 1528 Paynel Salerne's Regim. E iv, The beste *hog fleshe. 1616 B. Jonson Ev. Man in Hum. i. i, Doe not conceiue that antipathy betweene vs, and Hogs-den; as was betweene Iewes, and hogs-flesh. 1825 Scott Talism. ii, Dried hog's-flesh, the abomination of the Moslemah. |
| 1614 Markham Cheap Husb. i. xlvii. 31 Take Waxe, *Hogges-grease and Turpentine. 1654 Gayton Pleas. Notes iii. ii. 71 Yet they did Hog-grease his body. 1676 Lond. Gaz. No. 1073/1, 4 Tierces of Hogsgreace. |
| a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew s.v. Hog, *Hog-grubber, a close-fisted,..sneaking Fellow. |
| 1907 Sunset XVIII. 290/2 The anxious gaze of the *hoghead (Anglice: engineer). 1931 Illinois Central Mag. June 30/2 To the initiated, a ‘tallow-pit’ is a locomotive fire-man and a ‘hoghead’ is the engineer. 1960 Listener 18 Aug. 250/2 Engineers are ‘hogheads’ or ‘eagle-eyes’. |
| 1806 Forsyth Beauties Scotl. IV. 62 Having stables..milk-house, *hog-house, &c. 1896 Westm. Gaz. 26 Oct. 10/2 Chicago has just built for itself a new piggery..In the language of the West it is a ‘600,000 dollar hog-house’. |
| 1723 Lond. Gaz. No. 6170/9 Thomas Greathead,..*Hogjobber. |
| 1810 M. van H. Dwight Journey to Ohio (1912) 53 He pass'd us on the road, singing & screaming, advising us to go back & learn *hog-latin—alias German—or dutch. 1834 C. A. Davis Lett. J. Downing 19 You shall give the address after all, only just let Seth stick a little Hog-latin into it here and there. 1930 Daily Express 8 Sept. 8/6 The millions now being wasted in teaching bewildered youngsters hog Latin and piano and bad Greek. |
| 1904 Westm. Gaz. 13 May 3/1 There is no reason in the world why you should not mark out a ‘*hog’ line with whitewash. 1963 Times 25 Feb. p. xvi/2 Briefly, the rule allows a curler to keep his grip on his rock until the first hog line is reached—a distance of 32 feet from the hack in which the toe is placed. |
| 1732 London Mag. I. 278 He lov'd *hog-meat thorough done. |
| 1886 Syd. Soc. Lex., *Hog plague, the same, according to Klein, as infectious pneumo-enteritis..Also called Swine fever. |
| 1796 Stedman Surinam II. xxv. 224, I have here also found a kind of real potatoe..but they are only used by the negroes, being inferior to the *hog-potatoes in Great Britain. |
| 1866 Rogers Agric. & Prices I. xxi. 552, I find *hog-rings bought on two occasions in 1360 and 1374. |
| 1692 in G. Sheldon Hist. Deerfield, Mass. (1895) I. 267 The *hogg ringers shall have 6d. per head for every hogg ya ring. 1802–25 Syd. Smith Ess. (Beeton) 215 Because he has served the office of clerk, or sexton, or hog⁓ringer. 1614 B. Jonson Barth. Fair v. iii. Wks. (Rtldg.) 338/2 Yes good man *Hogrubber, of Pickthatch. 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. iii. ii. iv. i. (1638) 536 The very rusticks and hog-rubbers..if once they tast of this Loue liquor, are inspired in an instant. |
| c 1630 Trag. Rich. II, (1870) 60 Heeres a fatt horson in his russet slops, And yett may spend 300li bith yeare, The third of which the *hoggsface owes the kinge. |
| 1859 Bartlett Dict. Amer. s.v., *Hog-tight and horse-high, always used together, of fences that are sufficient to restrain trespassing stock. Maryland. 1879 A. W. Tourgée Fool's Errand xxx. 194 The split-board paling..was ‘horse-high, hog-tight, and bull-strong’ . 1885 Rep. Indian Affairs 110 All of these tracts are enclosed with hog-tight fences. 1972 Christian Sci. Monitor 28 Sept. 16/4 The pioneers..tipped the stumps up with their roots in the air, and lined them along so they were, as the saying went, ‘horse-high, hog-tight, and bull-strong’. |
| 1840 Amer. Jrnl. Sc. XXXIX. 212 From the difference of surface, soil, and exposure, there arises a great diversity in the size, depth, and general appearance of the *hog-wallows. 1893 N. & Q. 8th Ser. IV. 406 Chapel Lane..was a hog-wallow, a fetid ditch, and open receptacle of sewerage and filth. |
| 1883 Green Conq. Eng. 330 The *hog-ward who drove the swine to the denes in the wood⁓land paid his lord 15 pigs at the slaughter time. |
| 1904 Dialect Notes II. 418, I never saw such an excitement over a little thing in Arkansas as there was over that debate. They went *hog wild. 1938 J. Rice Somers Inheritance iii. x. 178 The fact is they're eaten up with envy because they're not getting some of the money. They're hog-wild, that's it, hog-wild. 1940 C. McCullers Heart is Lonely Hunter (1943) i. ii. 21 This here white man had just gone hog wild. He were butting his head against the side of this brick wall. 1969 Eugene (Oreg.) Register-Guard 3 Dec. 2D/1 Arkansas has gone hog wild over its second-ranked Razorbacks this week. |
| 1577 Tusser Husb. xvii. (1878) 38 note, *Hog yokes, and a twicher, and ringes for a hog. 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 387 Weare a Yoke like a Hogs-yoke. 1707 Mortimer Husb. (1708) 290 Hog-Yokes and Rings. 1841 F. A. Olmsted Incidents Whaling Voy. vi. 83 A quadrant receives the very undignified and unphilosophical name of a ‘hog-yoke’. a 1852 F. M. Whitcher Widow Bedott Papers (1883) x. 35, I ain't so fond o' pork as to eat hog yokes. 1897 Kipling Capt. Cour. v. 107 The old green-crusted quadrant that they called the ‘hog-yolk’. 1929 F. C. Bowen Sea Slang 67 Hog yoke, the old fashioned wooden quadrant in American ships and Grand Bankers, so-called from its likeness to the wooden yoke put over hogs to prevent them breaking through fences. |
b. From senses 4 and 5:
hog-age U.S., adolescence (?
obs.);
hog-bull, a yearling bull;
hog-colt, a yearling colt;
hog-fence, pasture fenced off for feeding young sheep or ‘hogs’ during the winter;
hog-fleece, the fleece obtained from a ‘hog’;
hog-fold, a fold for young sheep (Lisle
Husb. a 1722);
hog-gap (see
quots.); so
hog-hole;
hog-lamb, a castrated wether lamb;
hog-pox (see
quot.);
hog-sheep = sense 5;
hog-wool = sense 5 c.
| 1848 J. Mitchell in Amer. Speech (1935) X. 40 *Hog age, between Boyhood & Manhood. 1893 Farmer & Henley Slang, Hog-age, the period between boyhood and manhood. |
| 1794 T. Davis Agric. Wilts in Archæol. Rev. (1888) Mar., At this time it is used in a more extended sense for any animal of a year old, as a *hog bull, a chilver hog sheep. |
| 1591 Percivall Sp. Dict., Potrico, a *hog colt. 1796 W. Marshall W. Eng. I. Gloss. (E.D.S.) Hog-colts, yearling colts. |
| 1802 Findlater Agric. Surv. Peebles 192 Some better and lower lying pasture is saved..for them [lambs], for their Winter's provision; what is thus hained, is called the *hog fence. |
| 1865 H. H. Dixon Field & Fern IV. iv. 61 The weight of the *hogg fleeces depends so entirely on their keep. |
| 1878 Cumbld. Gloss., *Hog-gap, a covered opening in a wall for sheep to pass through. |
| 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. xxviii, The bairns' rime says, the warst blast of the borrowing days couldna kill the three silly poor *hog-lambs. 1842–4 H. Stephens Bk. of Farm (1851) 923 When a male a tup⁓lamb, and this last is changed to hogg-lamb when it under⁓goes emasculation. |
| 1749 W. Ellis Sheph. Guide 324 This Disease, by many Farmers, is called the *Hog-Pox in Sheep, proceeding from Foulness of Blood, and as some think is somewhat of the Nature of the Small-Pox in the human Body. |
| 1667 Comenio's Dict. 584 They did also pull off the fleeces of *hog-sheep (whom now a days we shear). 1807 Vancouver Agric. Devon (1813) 346 The ewes and lambs, with the preceding year's hog sheep, are brought down from the forests in the beginning of November. |
| 1813 Sir J. Cullum Hist. Hawsted Suffolk (ed. 2) 274 Their [Hoggets'] first fleece is called *Hog-wool. |
c. In names of animals resembling the hog, or infesting swine, as
hog-ape (also
hog-faced ape), the mandrill baboon,
Simia porcaria;
† hog-badger (see
quot. 1741);
hog-beetle, a beetle of the family
Curculionidæ;
hog-caterpillar, ‘the larva of a Sphinx-moth,
Darapsa myron, so called from the swollen thoracic joints’ (
Cent. Dict.);
hog-choke,
-choker,
U.S. (see
quots. 1857, 1885);
hog-molly, a name in
U.S. of two fishes: (
a)
= hog-sucker; (
b)
= hog-fish 4;
hog-monkey = hog-ape;
hog-mouse, the shrew-mouse;
hog-mullet = hog-sucker;
hog-perch, the hog-fish,
Percina caprodes;
hog-rabbit,
hog-rat (see
quots.);
hog-sucker, a North American fish, the Hammer-head,
Hypentelium nigricans;
hog-tapir, the Mexican tapir;
hog-tick, a tick or louse parasitic on swine,
Hæmatopinus suis.
| 1608 Topsell Serpents (1658) 675 The snout is like to the snout of a *Hog-ape, always gaping. 1793 Pennant Hist. Quadrup. I. 187 Hog-faced Ape, Simia Porcaria. |
| 1611 Cotgr., Taisson porchin, the *hog Badger; is footed, and snowted like a swine. 1741 Compl. Fam. Piece ii. i. 297 There are two Sorts of Badgers, viz. the Dog-Badger, as resembling the Dog in his Feet; and a Hog-Badger, as resembling a Hog in his cloven Hoofs. |
| 1836–9 Todd Cycl. Anat. II. 895/1 A similar change in the form and relative size of parts of the head occurs in the *hog-beetles. |
| 1857 Harper's Mag. XIV. 442 The refuse fish commonly taken (in North Carolina) are sturgeon..*hog-choke, or flounder, lampreys, and common eels. |
| 1885 Kingsley Stand. Nat. Hist. III. 280 The nearest American relative of the sole..Achirus lineatus. It is a worthless animal, as one of its popular names—*hogchoker—suggests. |
| 1744–50 W. Ellis Mod. Husbandm. III. ii. 36 But it happened, that good Part of his Bean-crop was spoiled by *Hog or Shrew-mice. |
| 1845 Encycl. Metrop. XVI. 793 Cœlogenus Paca..They are sometimes called *Hog Rabbits, and are natives of Brazil. |
| 1847 Carpenter Zool. §147 Connecting the Rats with the Marmots is a curious animal of larger size, the Capromys or *Hog-rat, which inhabits Cuba. This is a climbing, not a burrowing species..and feeds entirely on vegetable matter. |
| 1883 Bull. U.S. Nat. Mus. xxvii. 478 Catostomus nigricans... *Hog Sucker... United States from New York to Florida and westward to Alabama and Kansas; Great Lake region. 1888 Goode Amer. Fishes 435 The..‘Hog Sucker’..abounds in most waters from the great lakes southward. |
d. In names of plants devoured by, fit for, or left to hogs or swine, as
hog-apple (see
quot.);
hog-bed (
U.S.), the Ground Pine,
Lycopodium complanatum;
hog('s)-grass, Swine's Cress,
Senebiera Coronopus (Britten & H.);
hog('s)-meat, (
a)
Aristolochia grandiflora, (
b)
Boerhaavia decumbens of Jamaica;
hog-pea,
-pease, the commonfield-pea;
hog-peanut, a twining plant of
U.S.,
Amphicarpœa monoica (N.O.
Leguminosæ), having purplish flowers and fleshy, pea-shaped fruits;
hog's bane, Goosefoot or Sowbane;
hog's bread, Sowbread,
Cyclamen; also
= hog-meat b (
Syd. Soc. Lex. 1886);
hog's eye (see
quots.);
hog's garlic,
Allium ursinum (Miller
Plant-n. 1884);
hog-slip (see
quot.);
hog's madder, Ragwort,
Senecio Jacobæa;
† hog's snout (see
quot.);
hog-succory, a species of
Hyoseris;
hog-wort,
Heptalon graveolens (N.O.
Euphorbiaceæ) of
U.S. (
Syd. Soc. Lex. 1886).
| 1865 Chambers' Encycl. VII. 622 Podophyllum peltatum,..is common in North America..and is known as May-Apple..also as *Hog-apple. |
| 1756 P. Browne Jamaica 329 The poisoned *Hog-meat. This plant is very common in St. Ann's. 1853 Lindley Veg. Kingd. (ed. 3) 507 According to Aublet the root of Boerhaavia decumbens (called Hog⁓meat in Jamaica), is emetic. |
| 1744–50 W. Ellis Mod. Husbandm. III. ii. 118 How another Farmer lost Crops of *Hog-peas, by the Slugs..he had sown his Hog-pea Seed in the random broad-cast way of sowing them. |
| 1807 Vancouver Agric. Devon (1813) 183 A few *hog-pease and some beans, are occasionally cultivated. |
| 1886 Syd. Soc. Lex., *Hog's bane, the Chenopodium murale. |
| 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 73 The same gall with a little *Hogs⁓bread. |
| 1854 Mayne Expos. Lex., *Hog's Eye,..common name for the Hyophthalmus. 1886 Syd. Soc. Lex., Hyophthalmus, the hog's eye plant, supposed to be the Buphthalmum spinosum, from the likeness of its flowers to a hog's eye. |
| 1750 G. Hughes Barbadoes 171 *Hog-slip, this is a trailing herbaceous vine, cloathed with sharp-pointed leaves. |
| 1707 Mortimer Husb. (1708) 188 For the Gargol in Hogs..Take Angelica, Rue, Staverwort, or *Hog's-Madder, and May-weed. |
| 1834 M. G. Lewis Jrnl. W. Ind. 168 The trees..were many of them entirely covered with the beautiful flowers of the *hog's-meat, and other creeping plants. |
| 1559 Morwyng Evonym. 367 The juice of Hamsig, Plantain,..Rostrum porcinum or *Hogges snout. |
▪ II. hog, n.2 local.
[Origin obscure: it varies locally with hod.] A heap of potatoes or turnips covered with straw and soil; a ‘clamp’, ‘pit’.
| 1790–1804 A. Young Ann. Agric. XXXII. 213 The usual mode of preserving potatoes in this country is in hogs, as they are called. 1857 Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. XVIII. i. 108 The potatoes are brought out of the ‘hogs’, or ‘graves’, or ‘pits’—all of which are provincial terms for the same mode of covering them with straw and earth. |
▪ III. hog, v.1 (
hɒg)
[f. hog n.1, in various senses unconnected with each other.] I. 1. trans. a. To arch (the back) upward like that of a hog. Also
transf. and
absol.| 1860 R. F. Burton Lake Regions Central Africa I. 85 They [sc. asses] hog and buck till they burst their frail girths. 1956 Archit. Rev. CXIX. 143/2 Owing to the eccentric placing of the prestressing wires, which cannot be avoided, there is always the tendency for the units to ‘hog’, i.e., to assume a permanent deflection upwards during stressing. |
b. To cause (a ship, her keel, a plank, etc.) to droop at the ends and rise in the centre, as the result of a strain.
| 1798 Wolcott (P. Pindar) Tales of Hoy Wks. 1812 IV. 417 A very bad world indeed in some parts—hogg'd the moment it was launch'd, a number of rotten timbers. 1802 Naval Chron. VIII. 257 The Mars..received some damage, which has hogged her a little. 1803 Wellington Let. to Lieut.-Gen. Stuart in Gurw. Desp. (1837) II. 18 note, The..draught bullocks always suffer by exposure. They stick in the mud, hog their backs, droop their heads and die. 1832 Hull Newspaper, The planks were hogged amidships. |
2. intr. To rise arch-wise in the centre, as a ship when the ends droop or sink.
| 1803 Deb. Congr. U.S. 19 Jan. (1851) 407/1 He did not..believe that there would be any more danger of the ship's hogging, when lowered down..than when on the stocks. 1818 R. Seppings in Phil. Trans. 3 She hogged, or broke her sheer..one foot two inches. c 1850 Rudim. Navig. (Weale) 124. 1875 Nat. Encycl. XI. 662 In still water there is usually an excess of weight towards the ends, and an excess of buoyancy amidships, tending to make the ship hog, or arch upwards. Ibid., In rough water, there is a tendency to hog and to sag alternately. |
II. 3. trans. To cut (a horse's mane) short, so that it stands up like the bristles of a hog.
| 1769 Dublin Mercury 25 Sept. 1/3 A sorrel Horse..his mane hogged last May. 1880 W. Day Racehorse in Train. vi. 42 Some, perhaps, would wish to plait or shave the tail and crimp or hog the mane to complete the picture. |
III. 4. To make a ‘hog’ of (a lamb); to keep (a lamb) over winter for sale in the following year.
| 1853 Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. XIV. ii. 298 A good many of the lambs usually sold fat have been hogged, and kept on to be sold when fat. Ibid. 300 From the high rates of holding lambs, many farmers last season hogged the lambs. 1865 H. H. Dixon Field & Fern IV. ix. 183 Hundreds of acres are now let for hogging black-faces off the Grampians. |
IV. 5. a. To appropriate greedily or selfishly.
orig. U.S. slang.| 1884 ‘Mark Twain’ Huck. Finn xxvii. 275 S'pose somebody has hogged that bag on the sly? 1887 Orange Jrnl. 16 Apr. (Farmer Amer.), If the crook is obstinate enough to hog it all. 1888 Daily Inter-Ocean 13 Mar. (Farmer Amer.), To hog whatever there was in the business for themselves. 1896 Columbus (Ohio) Disp. 2 July, It would give them a chance to say I was hogging every⁓thing and giving no one else a chance. 1917 J. C. McCorquodale In Divers Moods 16 What blinking luck!—Let's have a sup: Don't hog the lot. My Christ! it's cold. 1936 Wodehouse Laughing Gas xxii. 237 Maybe that will teach you not to go crawling to directors so that they will let you hog the camera! 1959 Listener 26 Mar. 566/1 He never hogs the limelight. 1960 Woman 9 Jan. 13/2 You've got a no-good wardrobe, piano, pram or bed, hogging precious space in the house. 1973 Freedom 7 July 1/4 The inquiry could go on without hogging the headlines from him. |
b. trans. and intr. To behave as a road hog; to monopolize the road. Also as
vbl. n.| 1897 Kipling Capt. Cour. vi. 129 You..go hoggin' the road on the high seas with no blame consideration fer your neighbours. 1914 ‘I. Hay’ Knight on Wheels xx. 200 Now I will really hog it a bit: this is a lovely piece of road. 1925 R. J. B. Sellar Sporting Yarns 135 As they were hogging it through the country-side with the speedometer hovering over the sixty mark. 1925 Punch 22 Apr. 432 ‘Frightful rate that bike we just passed was going, wasn't it?’ ‘Yes. They ought to have the man for {oqq}hogging{cqq}.’ 1926 Chambers's Jrnl. Dec. 875/1 Why don't you sound your hooter before hogging round corners? 1956 W. Graham Sleeping Partner iv. 35, I hogged the road to Lewes cutting in and out among all the family 8-horse powers. |
c. trans. To interfere with in wireless transmission, as by a more powerful instrument. So also
to hog the ether.
| 1914 Pears' Christmas Annual 21/2 They should be hogged till doomsday..if a single ship was on fire! Ibid., The operator heard. He started up as if he had been hogged himself. 1959 News Chron. 14 Dec. 4/6 The B.B.C., according to Mr. Collins, ‘hog the ether to a shocking extent’. |
d. trans. To eat (something) greedily.
| 1928 M. Lowry Lett. (1967) 4 Sometime..wdst hog it over the way somewhere with me? 1932 D. H. Lawrence Last Poems (1933) 50 The only way to eat an apple is to hog it down like a pig And taste nothing. 1946 B. Marshall George Brown's Schooldays v. 24 The Bruiser did not pause to observe it, hogging down the mashed up mess in front of him. |
V. 6. To clean a ship's bottom with a ‘hog’.
| 1769 Falconer Dict. Marine (1789), Goreter, to hog a vessel; to apply the hog to her bottom. 1862 Totten Naval Text-bk. 340 To hog a vessel, is to scrub her bottom. |
VI. 7. (
Curling) ‘To play (a stone) with so little force, that it does not clear the hog-score’ (Ogilvie). Also
fig.| 1822 Blackw. Mag. XII. 307 There's no a merchant amang us that's no hogged mair or less. |
VII. 8. To carry on the back.
dial.| 1781 J. Hutton Tour to Caves Gloss., Hog, to carry on the back. |
VIII. 9. trans. To feed swine on (a crop or crop-covered land). Also with
down or
off.
U.S. colloq.| 1859 H. W. Beecher Pleasant Talk 93 Some of the best farmers in this region hog their corn-lands. Ibid. 94 Land being hogged, will be free from cut-worms. 1863 Rep. Comm. Agric. 1862 (U.S.) 82, I was forced to hog down my crop this year. 1937 Amer. Speech XII. 104 To hog down corn means to let hogs eat unharvested corn in the field. 1948 Clarke Co. Democrat (Grove Hill, Ala.) 19 Aug. 7/3 A good place to plant crimson clover and rye grass is where you hogged off peanuts. |
Hence
ˈhogging vbl. n. and ppl. a.| 1772–84 Cook Voy. (1790) V. 1726 Remaining part some⁓what resembled the crest of their caps, or that which, in horses manes, is called hogging. 1812 Q. Rev. VIII. 49 The Tremendous..was launched without breaking or hogging, as it is sometimes called, the tenth part of an inch. 1852–61 Archit. Publ. Soc. Dict. IV. 64 Hoggin or Hogging, the term used by workmen for the curved form given to the cross section of a roadway to throw off the surface water. 1884 Eng. Illustr. Mag. Oct. 17/2 The ‘hogging’ of the mane..varies in style from the Arab. 1891 Athenæum 22 Aug. 257/3 Longitudinal strains, or hogging, being..as often the cause of leakage in a long, heavily-timbered, carvel-built ship. |
▪ IV. hog, v.2 [f. hog n.2] trans. To store (potatoes, etc.) in a heap, covered with straw and earth.
| 1730 Parson Walker Diary 23 (Lanc. Gloss.), I put off at present, being throng hogging up some of my potatoes. 1884 Cheshire Gloss., Hog, to earth up potatoes in a heap, or to throw compost into a heap. |