ˈpig-bed
[f. pig n.1 + bed n.]
1. A place where a pig lies, a pigsty, a pig's lair.
| 1821 in Cobbett Rur. Rides (1825) 17 Their dwellings are little better than pig-beds. |
2. The bed of sand in which pigs of iron are cast.
| 1884 Lock Workshop Rec. Ser. iii. 254/2 The first 2 or 3 cwt. of iron..sometimes will have to be poured into a pig-bed. 1890 W. J. Gordon Foundry 99 On another pig-bed we see the next operation in progress; the men are with sledge-hammers breaking apart the pigs from the sows, and knocking them into separate existence. |
3. Comb., as pig-bedman: see quot.
| 1892 Labour Commission Gloss., Pig-bedmen, term synonymous with ‘pig-lifters’. |