What does "hog" mean?

1. (to take more than your share) to take or use most of something in a greedy way so that others cannot have any. 2. (a pig) a large pig, especially one that is fully grown. 3. (a greedy person) a person who is greedy or selfish. 4. (a large motorcycle) a very large and heavy motorcycle. 5. (to curve upward) when the middle of a ship's floor curves upward.

hog — meaning, definition & examples

Word

01to take more than your share

B2 · Upper Intermediate Informal

v. to take or use most of something in a greedy way so that others cannot have any.

v. to monopolise a resource or space greedily or selfishly. Transitive; requires a direct object.

“Stop hogging the remote control and let someone else choose a channel.”

“He tended to hog the conversation during board meetings, rarely allowing his colleagues to voice their concerns regarding the budget.”

Synonyms

monopolise grab usurp

Antonyms

share distribute

02a pig

B2 · Upper Intermediate Countable noun

n. a large pig, especially one that is fully grown.

n. a domesticated swine, specifically an adult animal raised for meat.

“The farmer kept several hogs in the large pen behind the barn.”

“The livestock competition featured various breeds of hogs, each judged on their physical proportions and health.”

Synonyms

pig swine boar

03a greedy person

C1 · Advanced Countable noun Informal

n. a person who is greedy or selfish.

n. a person who acts in a gluttonous or selfishly acquisitive manner.

“Don't be such a hog; leave some pizza for the rest of us.”

“In the local community, he was known as a corporate hog who prioritised personal profit over the welfare of his employees.”

Synonyms

gluttonmiser

Antonyms

philanthropist

04a large motorcycle

C1 · Advanced Countable noun Slang

n. a very large and heavy motorcycle.

n. a large, heavy motorcycle, often specifically referring to a Harley-Davidson. Frequently used within biker subcultures.

“He spent every weekend cleaning his hog before taking it out for a long ride.”

“The roar of dozens of hogs filled the air as the motorcycle club rode through the small mountain town.”

Synonyms

chopper bike

05to curve upward

C2 · Proficiency Science Technical

v. when the middle of a ship's floor curves upward.

v. to cause the middle of a ship's hull or keel to arch upwards while the ends droop, typically due to uneven loading or heavy seas.

“The old wooden ship began to hog because it was loaded incorrectly.”

“If the cargo is concentrated at the bow and stern, the hull may hog, putting dangerous structural stress on the keel.”

Usage

The verb is often used in the passive voice or as a participial adjective ('a hogged hull').

Synonyms

arch bend

Antonyms

sag

“Michael Sarnoski's Pig (2021), starring Nicolas Cage, was named after its truffle-hunting hog, in which the natural world seems to hang in the balance.”

BBC 6 Feb 2023

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”).

Clipping of quahog.

Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

VERB

hog(B2)

NOUN

groundhog(B2)

hedgehog(B1)

Bacon boar RAM