hog
Americannoun
-
hogs
plural
-
a hoofed mammal of the Old World family Suidae, order Artiodactyla, comprising boars and swine.
-
a domesticated swine weighing 120 pounds (54 kilograms) or more, raised for market.
-
a selfish, gluttonous, or filthy person.
-
Slang.
-
a large, heavy motorcycle.
-
an impressively large luxury automobile.
-
-
British. Also hogg,
-
a sheep about one year old that has not been shorn.
-
the wool shorn from such a sheep.
-
any of several other domestic animals, as a bullock, that are one year old.
-
-
Railroads Slang. a locomotive.
-
a machine for shredding wood.
-
Curling. a stone that stops before reaching the hog score.
verb (used with object)
-
hogs,
present (3rd person singular)
-
hogged,
past participle, past
-
hogging
present participle
-
to appropriate selfishly; take more than one's share of.
-
to arch (the back) upward like that of a hog.
-
(in machine-shop practice) to cut deeply into (a metal bar or slab) to reduce it to a shape suitable for final machining.
-
to shred (a piece of wood).
verb (used without object)
-
hogs,
present (3rd person singular)
-
hogged,
past participle, past
-
hogging
present participle
idioms
-
live high off / on the hog, to be in prosperous circumstances. Also eat high off the hog.
-
go the whole hog. see whole hog. Also go whole hog.
noun
-
a domesticated pig, esp a castrated male weighing more than 102 kg
-
any artiodactyl mammal of the family Suidae; pig
-
Also: hogg. dialect another name for hogget
-
informal a selfish, greedy, or slovenly person
-
nautical a stiff brush, for scraping a vessel's bottom
-
nautical the amount or extent to which a vessel is hogged Compare sag
-
another word for camber
-
slang a large powerful motorcycle
-
informal to do something thoroughly or unreservedly
if you are redecorating one room, why not go the whole hog and paint the entire house?
-
informal to have an extravagant lifestyle
verb
-
slang to take more than one's share of
-
to arch (the back) like a hog
-
to cut (the mane) of (a horse) very short
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
hogsimple
-
hogssimple
-
have hoggedperfect
-
has hoggedperfect
-
am hoggingprogressive
-
are hoggingprogressive
-
is hoggingprogressive
-
have been hoggingperfect progressive
-
has been hoggingperfect progressive
Past
-
hoggedsimple
-
had hoggedperfect
-
was hoggingprogressive
-
were hoggingprogressive
-
had been hoggingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of hog
First recorded before 1100; Middle English hoge, Old English hogg; further origin uncertain; perhaps from Celtic; compare Welsh hwch, Cornish hogh “swine”
Explanation
A hog is a pig that's kept on a farm. You can also use the word as a verb, like when you act like a greedy hog. Try not to hog the pie, and stick to your allotted portion. Though the primary definition of a hog is "domesticated pig," it sometimes refers to wild swine, including feral pigs and warthogs. Hogs are fairly intelligent and social animals, and some of their tendencies are dog-like, including wagging their tails to express pleasure. If your brother shoves cake in his mouth, you might call him a hog, or say, "Hey, don't hog the cake!" Hog originally referred to a one year old pig, but also a horse or sheep of a similar age. "Huckleberry Finn" contains the first known use of hog as a verb meaning "consume greedily."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
This week, the ICE says that it will launch live cattle futures, feeder cattle futures, and lean hog futures.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026
Fishmeal helped fuel the post-World War II expansion of industrial chicken and hog farming, particularly in Europe and the United States.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2026
A lot of the sports that you practice, whether that be hog hunting, coyote hunting, or just hunting, they’re associated with firearms.
From Slate ● Sep. 28, 2026
I have a friend who met a very wealthy and famous writer, whose novel was turned into a movie and who lived high on the hog.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 23, 2026
He scanned through ten volumes of Foxfire books for information about the habits and habitat of the feral hog.
From "An Abundance of Katherines" by John Green
AI data centers, like crypto miners before them, are energy hogs.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 9, 2026
The company said the plant will source about all of its hogs from nearby farmers in South Dakota, Iowa and Minnesota.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 16, 2026
For example, non-native feral hogs are now major predators of loggerhead sea turtle eggs along the Georgia coast, USA, while coyotes in eastern North America are expanding onto coastal barrier islands, altering those ecosystems.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 8, 2026
Benji is caustic, needling and selfish — the kind of guy who hogs the window seat, the shower and everyone’s attention.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 26, 2025
The Bowies’ hogs were the pride of the county, but I was glad we didn’t live downwind of their farm.
From "The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs" by Betty G. Birney
Maryland is not exactly known for its wines—Virginia has hogged the spotlight in the region for decades.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026
While the headlines for markets are currently hogged by events in the Middle East, over the longer term AI-induced inflation might prove to be the more critical share-price driver.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 2, 2026
Abroad, successive Iranian presidents have often hogged the limelight.
From BBC ● Feb. 28, 2026
Mendis was on 92 heading into the final over, but the strike stayed away from him as Dunith Wellalage hogged the limelight.
From Barron's ● Jan. 22, 2026
He wanted to wake up to hear Papi cursing him out and Mami defending him and Bri and Julie fighting over who hogged the bathroom worse.
From "The Dead and the Gone" by Susan Beth Pfeffer
Members of Earth, Wind & Fire had been frustrated with White, accusing him of hogging the bulk of the profits.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 18, 2026
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.
From Barron's ● Oct. 18, 2025
Self-described haters say entitled cabana crews are hogging public space and disrespecting other beachgoers.
From BBC ● Jan. 8, 2025
James won the “MVP” at the Olympics by hogging the ball and making it about him, as usual.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 31, 2024
To make matters worse, there was urgent pounding, and Sophie snarled, “Get out of there! You’re hogging the bathroom!”
From "Schooled" by Gordon Korman
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
