road hog

American  

noun

1. a driver who obstructs traffic by occupying parts of two lanes.

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road hog British  

noun

1. informal a selfish or aggressive driver

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road hog Idioms  

1. A motorist whose vehicle straddles two traffic lanes, as in Stay in your own lane, you road hog! This expression uses hog in the sense of “a greedy or selfish person.” [Colloquial; late 1800s]

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Other Word Forms

• road-hoggish adjective
• road-hoggism noun

Etymology

Origin of road hog

First recorded in 1890–95

Example Sentences

The energy industry has become the stock market’s equivalent of a road hog.

From New York Times • Jul. 15, 2022

Streaming media, an increasingly popular type of traffic, is turning out to be a cyber road hog that flouts the rules and creates traffic jams.

From New York Times • Aug. 25, 2014

Whatever you choose, make sure there's plenty of it: in the words of one road hog, "If we ate as much at home as we eat on vacation, we'd all weigh 500 lbs."

From Time Magazine Archive

Only it would be silly to try, because one wouldn't see anything, and would make oneself a nuisance as a "road hog" to everybody one met or passed.

From Set in Silver by Williamson, A. M. (Alice Muriel)

"Why do you turn out for every road hog that comes along?" said the missus, rather crossly.

From More Toasts by Mosher, Marion Dix

Related Words

• chauffeur
• jockey
• motorist
• operator
• trainer