hog

[hawg, hog]

noun

1. a hoofed mammal of the Old World family Suidae, order Artiodactyla, comprising boars and swine.

2. a domesticated swine weighing 120 pounds (54 kilograms) or more, raised for market.

3. a selfish, gluttonous, or filthy person.

4. Slang.

   1. a large, heavy motorcycle.

   2. an impressively large luxury automobile.

5. British.,  Also hogg,

   1. a sheep about one year old that has not been shorn.

   2. the wool shorn from such a sheep.

   3. any of several other domestic animals, as a bullock, that are one year old.

6. Railroads Slang.,  a locomotive.

7. a machine for shredding wood.

8. Curling.,  a stone that stops before reaching the hog score.

verb (used with object)

hogged, hogging 

1. to appropriate selfishly; take more than one's share of.

2. to arch (the back) upward like that of a hog.

3. roach.

4. (in machine-shop practice) to cut deeply into (a metal bar or slab) to reduce it to a shape suitable for final machining.

5. to shred (a piece of wood).

verb (used without object)

hogged, hogging 

1. Nautical.,  (of a hull) to have less than the proper amount of sheer because of structural weakness; arch.

hog

/ hɒɡ /

noun

1. a domesticated pig, esp a castrated male weighing more than 102 kg

2. any artiodactyl mammal of the family Suidae; pig

3. Also: hogg. dialect,  another name for hogget

4. informal,  a selfish, greedy, or slovenly person

5. nautical a stiff brush, for scraping a vessel's bottom

6. nautical the amount or extent to which a vessel is hogged Compare sag

7. another word for camber

8. slang,  a large powerful motorcycle

9. informal,  to do something thoroughly or unreservedly

   if you are redecorating one room, why not go the whole hog and paint the entire house?

10. informal,  to have an extravagant lifestyle

verb

1. slang,  to take more than one's share of

2. to arch (the back) like a hog

3. to cut (the mane) of (a horse) very short

Other Word Forms

• hoglike adjective
• unhogged adjective
• hogger noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of hog¹

First recorded before 1100; Middle English hoge, Old English hogg; further origin uncertain; perhaps from Celtic; compare Welsh hwch, Cornish hogh “swine”

Word History and Origins

Origin of hog¹

Old English hogg, from Celtic; compare Cornish hoch

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. live high off / on the hog, to be in prosperous circumstances. Also eat high off the hog.

2. go the whole hog. whole hog. Also go whole hog.

see go hog wild; go whole hog; high off the hog; road hog.

Example Sentences

“Don’t you just hate it when someone hogs all the attention at the family events?”

Read more on Literature

“How do we make it in America with greedy hogs like this, that just want to screw us, over and over again?”

Read more on Salon

While Norwegian Haaland's remarkable scoring feats in this campaign - 27 now for club and country - have hogged the headlines, Foden is a key part of that "talent up front".

Read more on BBC

Mr. Heckman is a hog, cattle, corn and soybean farmer who serves as vice chairman of the Global Farmer Network.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

He worried that a data center would destroy his peace and quiet, bringing noise and light pollution and hogging the area’s water and electricity.

Read more on Barron's

Related Words

• boar 
• pig 
• piglet 
• swine