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hog

v.
B2 Upper Intermediate US //ˈhɑɡ// UK //hˈɒɡ// hog Archaic Informal Slang Vulgar

v. to take or use more than your fair share of something so that others cannot have any. It is often used when someone takes up too much space or time.

v. to take or use selfishly; to monopolise a resource or space to the exclusion of others. Transitive — requires a direct object representing the resource being consumed.


SIMPLE

Stop trying to hog the remote control.

CONTEXTUAL

My brother always tends to hog the bathroom in the morning when I am already running late for work.

COMPLEX

The local industry was accused of trying to hog the water supply during the drought, leaving residential areas with strictly enforced rationing and dry taps.

Synonyms
Etymology 1

From Middle English hog, from Old English hogg, hocg (“hog”), possibly from Old Norse hǫggva (“to strike, chop, cut”), from Proto-Germanic hawwaną (“to hew, forge”), from Proto-Indo-European kewh₂- (“to beat, hew, forge”). Cognate with Old High German houwan, Old Saxon hauwan, Old English hēawan (English hew). Hog originally meant a castrated male pig, hence a sense of “the cut one”. (Compare hogget for a castrated male sheep.) More at hew. Alternatively from a Brythonic language, from Proto-Celtic sukkos, from Proto-Indo-European suH- and thus cognate with Welsh hwch (“sow”) and Cornish hogh (“pig”).

Etymology 2

Clipping of quahog.

Usage

The verb is transitive and takes a direct object.

Idioms7 entries

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