What does "hog" mean?
Any animal belonging to the Suidae family of mammals, especially the pig, the warthog, and the boar.
Hog
/hɒɡ/ noun, verb, slang
noun, verb, slang ·Common ·Middle school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: Any animal belonging to the Suidae family of mammals, especially the pig, the warthog, and the boar.
- Grammar: hog is listed as noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: pig, accroach, adopt, animal.
- Useful contrasts: allocate, cultures share traditions, distribute.
- Usage evidence: With the money Mr Johnson had saved, he would be able to live high on the hog when he retired.
How to use "hog"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "hog" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "hog" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "hog" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "hog" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "hog" is acting as noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "pig" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "hog", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 Any animal belonging to the Suidae family of mammals, especially the pig, the warthog, and the boar.
- 2 A quahog (clam). informal
- 3 domestic swine wordnet
- 4 An adult swine (contrasted with a pig, a young swine). specifically
"Weanlings grow into feeder pigs, and feeder pigs grow into slaughter hogs. […] Ultimately the end use for virtually all pigs and hogs is to be slaughtered for the production of pork and other products."
- 5 a sheep up to the age of one year; one yet to be sheared wordnet
Show 11 more definitions
- 6 A greedy person or thing; one who refuses to share; a gluttonous one. informal
"resource hog"
- 7 a person regarded as greedy and pig-like wordnet
- 8 A large motorcycle, particularly a Harley-Davidson. slang
"[…] bike. That rider looked relatively young. If he's a Border Force guy just doing a nine to five job back there, I'd like to know where he gets the money to ride that hog,” Max said. “Looks expensive,” Chloe replied."
- 9 A young sheep that has not been shorn. UK
- 10 A rough, flat scrubbing broom for scrubbing a ship's bottom under water.
"Hog, on board a ship, is a sort of flat scrubbing-broom, formed by inclosing a number of short twigs of birch or such wood between two pieces of plank fastened together, and cutting off the ends of the twigs. It is used to scrape the filth from a ship's bottom under water, particularly in the act of boot-topping. For this purpose they fit to this broom a long staff with two ropes; one of which is used to thrust the hog under the ship's bottom, and the other to guide and pull it up again close to the planks."
- 11 A device for mixing and stirring the pulp from which paper is made.
- 12 A shilling coin; its value, 12 old pence. UK, archaic, countable, historical, slang, uncountable
"“’Ere y'are, the best rig-out you ever ’ad. A tosheroon [half a crown]^([sic]) for the coat, two ’ogs for the trousers, one and a tanner for the boots, and a ’og for the cap and scarf. That's seven bob.”"
- 13 A tanner, a sixpence coin; its value. UK, countable, historical, obsolete, slang, uncountable
"hog (pl hog)... 2. In C.18–early 19, occ. a sixpence: also c., whence the U.S. sense. Prob. ex the figure of a hog on a small silver coin."
- 14 A half-crown coin; its value, 30 old pence. UK, countable, historical, obsolete, slang, uncountable
"hog (pl hog)... 3. A half-crown: ca 1860–1910."
- 15 The effect of the middle of the hull of a ship rising while the ends droop.
"I would not consider a ship unseaworthy because she had a hog. There is no danger to life in sailing in a hogged ship. I have sailed in vessels having a 2-ft. hog in the keel. The keel has been straightened by being filled in underneath."
- 16 A penis. vulgar
"He had to piss in the worst way, but the game was in play and there was no way he was going anywhere to relieve himself. It was right in the center of the Armand huddle that he got so desperate he pulled out his hog and let it go."
Verb
- 1 To greedily take more than one's share, to take precedence at the expense of another or others. informal, transitive
"Hey! Quit hogging all the blankets."
- 2 To process (bark, etc.) into hog fuel. transitive
- 3 take greedily; take more than one's share wordnet
- 4 To clip the mane of a horse, making it short and bristly. transitive
"Some, perhaps, would wish to plait or shave the tail and crimp or hog the mane to complete the picture."
- 5 To clip the mane of a horse, making it short and bristly.; (of a hedge) to trim up closely transitive
Show 3 more definitions
- 6 To scrub with a hog, or scrubbing broom.
- 7 To cause the keel of a ship to arch upwards (the opposite of sag). transitive
"Although most of the buoyancy of a ship is provided by the middle part of the hull and comparatively little by the tapering ends, nothing will ever prevent people from putting heavy weights into the ends of a ship. One result of this is that many vessels tend to 'hog' (the two ends tend to droop and the middle of the hull tends to rise)."
- 8 To take a rough cut, quickly removing material; to hog out.
Antonyms
Example
"With the money Mr Johnson had saved, he would be able to live high on the hog when he retired."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "hog"?
Common synonyms include: pig, accroach, adopt, animal, antelope, appropriate.
How do you use "hog" in a sentence?
With the money Mr Johnson had saved, he would be able to live high on the hog when he retired.
How do you pronounce "hog"?
Pronounced /hɒɡ/.
Etymology
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.