long pig

noun

(among the Maori and Polynesian peoples) human flesh as food for cannibals.

Origin of long pig

First recorded in 1850–55

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for long pig

Historical Examples of long pig

Many of Tito's Hauhaus are still alive; but they are very reticent on the subject of "long-pig."
The adventures of Kimble Bent
James 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 London
Martin Johnson

British Dictionary definitions for long pig

long pig

noun

obsolete human flesh eaten by cannibals

Word Origin for long pig

translation of a Māori and Polynesian term

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for long pig

"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]