long pig
- (among the Maori and Polynesian peoples) human flesh as food for cannibals.
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Origin of long pig
First recorded in 1850–55
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for long pig
Historical Examples
Many of Tito's Hauhaus are still alive; but they are very reticent on the subject of "long-pig."
The adventures of Kimble BentJames Cowan
In the days gone by, the natives used to call the feast of human flesh the long-pig feast.
Through the South Seas with Jack LondonMartin Johnson
long pig
- obsolete human flesh eaten by cannibals
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Word Origin
translation of a Māori and Polynesian term
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for long pig
n.
"human being eaten as food," 1848, in a Pacific Islander context:
Bau literally stank for many days, human flesh having been cooked in every house, and the entrails thrown outside as food for pigs, or left to putrefy in the sun. The Somosomo people were fed with human flesh during their stay at Bau, they being on a visit at that time; and some of the Chiefs of other towns, when bringing their food, carried a cooked human being on one shoulder, and a pig on the other; but they always preferred the "long pig," as they call a man when baked. ["FEEJEE.--Extract of a Letter from the Rev. John Watsford, dated Ono, October 6th, 1846." in "Wesleyan Missionary Notices," Sept. 1847]
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper