pig n.
1. as an insult, based on negative stereotyping.
(a) a general insult denoting unpleasantness, esp. to one who is fat, ugly and/or greedy.
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | Proverbs 65: What, byd me welcome pyg. | |
| Dr. Dodypoll in III (1884) III ii: Vell, me say no more: chok a de selfe, foule churle, fowle, horrible, terrible pigge, pye Cod. | |
| A Puff at the Guinea Pigs n.p.: To call a man like me a hog! – a very pretty rig, sir! / You saucy, snub nos’d, puppy dog; – nay, curse me, you’re a pig, sir! | |
| Dict. of the Turf, the Ring, the Chase, etc. 135: Pig — a man charged with being one is supposed to have dirty piggish habits. | |
| Dict. of the Flash or Cant Lang. 164/2: Pig – a person. | |
![[Ire]](/static/img/flags/ire.png "Ireland") | ‘Donnybrook Jig’ Dublin Comic Songster 261: He hit him a dig, The pig, / He beat the meal out of his wig. | |
 | Durham Chron. 2 Jan. 2/5: ‘You nasty, gross, “plebian” boy! I saw you, you little pigs. You and Dick Cobden in the dirt’. | |
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | Wkly Varieties (Boston, MA) 3 Sept. 7/1: Tim Willard, long a squealing pig, has at last become a grunting hog of the largest calibre. | |
| Strange Adventures of Captain Dangerous 315: Pig, why dost thou not take off thy Hat? | |
| Golden Butterfly II 215: Comes home and lies down, he does – yah! ye lazy pig. | |
| Ally Sloper’s Half Holiday 3 May 3/3: Some of the ladies do not hesitate to call him behind his back ‘pig’ and ‘porpoise’. | |
| My Secret Life (1966) VI 1278: It serves him right, a brute, a fool, a pig [...] to tell people of all my troubles. | |
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | ‘The Selector’s Daughter’ in Roderick (1972) 63: Well, you needn’t be a pig. | |
| ‘Stalky’ Complete Stalky & Co. (1987) 11: You’re a pig, Beetle. | |
| Sister Carrie 72: A Madame Sappho would have called him a pig. | |
| Rat 52: Dirty, untidy little pig! | |
![[NZ]](/static/img/flags/nz.png "New Zealand") | Truth (Wellington) 11 Jan. 5/7: If every disreputable pig of Elm’s sort attempted to ravish women [...] while their lustful passions were inflamed by beer, what sort of a place would it be. | |
| Gem 7 Oct. 8: The Belgiums are – pigs! | |
| Sport (Adelaide) 6 Jan. 8/4: C. W. (a good sport), will think twice before he lends a pig down on his luck the brass for another suit of ‘clobber.’ Even a man of the world like H.R. was caught for thick ’uns. | |
| Rain III ii 241: You men—you’re all alike (hoarsely) Pigs! Pigs! I wouldn’t trust one of you. | |
| (con. WW1) Patrol 231: ‘Show the — pigs they’re not the only fly ones’. | |
| ‘Bloodhounds of Broadway’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 101: He is a pig. | |
| South Riding (1988) 280: Jack, you foul pig. Play! | |
| They Die with Their Boots Clean 69: Call me Pig, and I’m Pig all through. | |
| (con. 1944) Naked and Dead 194: What a goddam pig he is. | |
| Battle Cry (1964) 275: He let a wad of tobacco juice skitter over the sill [...] ‘Pig’. | |
| Waiting for Godot Act I: You’re being spoken to, pig! Reply! | |
| Guntz 128: You can be [...] a big spender from the east, or a mean pig. | |
| Bunch of Ratbags 244: Don’t drink like a pig, Terry. | |
| (con. 1960s) Wanderers 82: You bois a peegs! Feelty peegs! | |
| Family Arsenal 255: ‘You’re a pig,’ she said. ‘You hate women.’. | |
![[SA]](/static/img/flags/sa.png "South Africa") | Sat. Night at the Palace (1985) 72: You pig!! You disgusting! You the most disgusting pig I ever seen in my whole life, man. | |
| Skin Tight 228: The fat pig should have been apologizing all over himself. | |
| Guardian Editor 28 May 20: The woman leans out of the window and yells ‘Pig!’ The man immediately leans out of his window and replies ‘Bitch!’. | |
| Crumple Zone 139: So I hit that fucking racist pig. | |
| D. Telegraph (Sydney) 21 Dec. 🌐 He said, ‘You are a pig!’ So I said, ‘And you are a communist ***hole!’. |
(b) (US horseracing) a slow or otherwise useless horse, not to be betted on.
| in Zwilling TAD Lex. (1993) 63: I got a steer on Mill Valley in the foist but give it the chill — it cops — Now I got Tobey — It’s hot — I’m told he’s a spread. Jim G is on him — Aw that pig can’t run. | |
| Honest Rainmaker (1991) 19: I thought I might as well take them before he bet them on some pig. | |
| Erections, Ejaculations etc. 100: A so-called pig who ‘wakes up’ and wins by 3 to ten lengths at odds of 5 up to 50 to 1. | |
| Tip on a Dead Crab 135: I’m standing there with two bills on his pig, a sure winner, if he don’t piss in his silks at the idea he might win. |
(c) a fat, unattractive woman.
| Adventures of a Scholar Tramp 270: I never married one of ’em [...] but I’ve kept many a pig, as the bums say; that is, livin’ with ’em. | |
| (con. 1920s) Young Manhood in Studs Lonigan (1936) 363: All he could get for a dance was a dumb Swede pig. | |
| Catcher in the Rye (1958) 34: I’m through with that pig. | |
| Cast the First Stone 161: I had my first girl when I was about fifteen. She was a pig and I felt like one when I was with her. | |
| On the Yard (2002) 83: Adenoidal, pinch-breasted, dry-crotched, nowhere bunch of hymn-singing pigs. | |
| Close Quarters (1987) 228: I woke up on the porch mat without a stitch on, and this fat pig of a broad was lying on the floor next to me. | |
| Long Gray Line (1990) 123: The ‘pig pool,’ the consolation prize for the classmate deemed to have the homeliest blind date. | |
| Lex. of Cadet Lang. 266: usage: ‘So what excuse are you going to give the pig for standing her up?’. | |
| Grits 36: Actually, a think shiz a birruva pig. | |
| Alphaville (2011) 43: I know you fucked that fat pig. | |
| Hard Bounce [ebook] ‘Sid pulled a gun on me and I killed that pig’. |
(d) (US) a woman considered to be drunken, promiscuous and/or sexually available (cf. pig meat ).
| [ | | Ely’s Hawk & Buzzard (NY) Mar. 22 2/2: He can show the Sheffield pigs how he exercised his little tommy in this country]. |
| ‘A Practical Joke’ in Short Stories (1937) 179: Marty no sooner gets in with his pig than Hugh McNeil grabs her and drags her into a closet. | |
| Dict. Service Sl. n.p.: pigs . . . easy women, they live in pig shacks. | |
| Onionhead (1958) 130: ‘I see your ex-pig at the Oval [Bar] last night’ [ibid] 140: ‘A truly scrumptiously gorgeous young teen-aged pig went an’ seduced me’. | |
| Addict in the Street (1966) 122: A filthy bitch, for three dollars sell her body! Doesn’t matter who at all, that’s a pig! That’s what we call them [...] pigs. | |
| Current Sl. IV:1. |
(e) (Can./US) a prostitute.
| et al. DAUL 157/1: Pig. 1. [...] a prostitute. | |
| Intelligent Woman’s Guide to Dirty Words. |
(f) (drugs) a greedy consumer of a given drug.
| Pimp 264: The inside of my nose was raw. It happens when you’re a pig for snorting cocaine. [Ibid.] 271: I was a pig for banging speedballs. | |
| S.R.O. (1998) 269: ‘[He] takes two whole bags of shit, all the time knowing he ain’t had a fix in six years. [...] But the bastard is a pig. He didn’t even care’. | |
| Thrill City [ebook] He’s a murdering drug pig who threatened my family. |
2. as an authority figure.
(a) (orig. UK Und., also pigman, pigman cove, pigsman) a police officer; thus pigs, the police as a group; a watchman [Egan’s Grose (1823) suggests that a pig’s rooting for food is the image behind the trap n.1 (3) who ‘roots up’ the haunts of the prig n.1 (2)].
| ‘The Frolicsome Spark’ No. 31 Papers of Francis Place (1819) n.p.: He [...] Fast asleep left each drowsy old pig and bundled away to his bed. | |
| Lex. Balatronicum n.p.: The pigs frisked my panney, and nailed my screws; the officers searched my house, and seized my picklock keys. | |
| ‘Sprees of Tom, Jerry and Logick’ in James Catnach (1878) 124: But Jerry, Tom, and Logick by the pigs [watchmen] were ta’en in tow. | |
| letter 28 Dec. in Pierce Egan’s Life in London (10 Apr. 1825) 83/2: [He] told us to be careful, for the pig-men (officers) were up in arms, one of which had offered Phillips ten funt (sovereigns) to say where he could pick us up. | |
| ‘The City Youth’ in Out-and-Outer in Spedding & Watt (eds) Bawdy Songbooks (2011) IV 140: The Pigman said, ‘If you’ll stand some gin, Your flash man now may go’. | |
| Sun (N.Y.) 20 June 2/2: The black fellow ‘blow’d,’ by telling him that the person with whom he had been conversing was one of the ‘Pigs’. | |
| ‘Sally Bray’ in Cove in Spedding & Watt (eds) Bawdy Songbooks (2011) IV 223: I’m floor’d, all by the pigman cove, / [...] / I’ve got my ticket, brown I’m done, / For fourteen penn’orth cast. | |
| ‘Moll Blowse of Saffron Hill’ in Flash Casket 98: Vhen pigmen grabb’d me for a crack, / And sent me to the Mill, / Von voman broght me scran and shag, / ’Tvos Moll Blowse of Saffron Hill. | |
| Whip & Satirist of NY & Brooklyn (NY) 3 Sept. n.p.: Some one cried ‘the “pigs” and “beaks” are on the scent’. | |
| Mysteries of London III 66/1: Tim twigged that a pig was marking. | |
| Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open 119: Pigman, a trap, or bailiff. | |
| Mysteries and Miseries of N.Y. I 114: Officers of the police; also termed ‘pigs’. | |
| Peeping Tom (London) 35 138/1: The eruption of the ‘pigs’ — as in my young days the Bow-street patrol were termed — had very effectually cleared the coffee room. | |
| Kendal Mercury 17 Apr. 6/1: My cuss on the beaks and the pigsmen and all. | |
| Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 101/1: It would be throwing a chance away for me and Joe to venture out to ‘graft’ while the ‘pigs’ were on the lookout for us. | |
| Sl. Dict. | |
| Dly Dispatch (Richmond, VA) 1 Nov. 3/3: Names for police officers: ‘pig,’ ‘Philistines,’ ‘bobby’. | |
| Bulletin (Sydney) 11 Dec. 30/3: A find like that ain’t good for business – exceptin’ the peeler’s business. An’, of course, we thought you was another pig with the same snout. | |
| N.Y. Times 2 Dec. n.p.: Chants of ‘—— the pigs’ and ‘dirty pigs’ drowned out exhortations from the speaker’s stand to ‘sit down’ [R]. | |
| Gandalf’s Garden 6 n.d. 11: pigs American term for those saidistic and mindless members of the police who enjoy the privilege of ‘authorised’ brutality. (Re Orwell’s Animal Farm). | |
| Tenants (1972) 56: He [...] attempts housebreaking and burglary at which he is caught by two white pigs. | |
| ‘It’s a Small World’ in Fiction 12: In Trafalgar Square the Fascist Pigs had / picked them up, still cross-legged, and booked them both. | |
| Passing Time (1988) 29: ‘Pigs,’ the Yippies had called the cops. | |
| G’DAY 25: A pig is one of the boys in blue and busts you for speeding. | |
| Sydney Morn. Herald 10 May 6/4: Security grabbed us and then [the] pigs took us down the SPC [Sydney Police Centre] and charged us. | |
| ‘187’ 🎵 Now, 99 pigs on a block with me, / Not a motherfuckin’ cop wanna knock with me. | |
| The Joy (2015) [ebook] One local pig, who we used to call ‘Sneaky’, would crawl under parked cars on the streets we used to target. | |
![[Scot]](/static/img/flags/sco.png "Scotland") | Filth 62: Remember what I told that pig stood for? Pride, Integrity and Guts. | |
| Crumple Zone 75: Din the pigs say nuffink ’bou’ witnesses? | |
| Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 140/1: pig n. 1 (also pigshit)a police officer [...] 3 (also pig dog) the police narcotics detection dog. | |
| Luck in the Greater West (2008) 43: That Eddie guy, the guy I brought ’round, he was a pig. | |
| ‘Trolling the Beat to Working the Soob’ in Int’l Jrnl Lexicog. 23:1 69: Terms for the police found both in boobslang and on the street include Demon, headlice (po-LICE), pig and filth. | |
| Ringer [ebook] n.p.: One boy on the stash, one boy on the cash. Pigs can’t do you for dealing then. | |
| Old Scores [ebook] The pigs had been close, and blowing up a bin or a postbox in the centre of power would turn them away. | |
| The Force [ebook] ‘You pigs, why you ain’t giving out pork?’. | |
| ‘Teddy Bruckshot’ 🎵 Chat to the fed, no way, that's dead / Like, how could you chat to the pigs? | |
| Blood Miracles : ‘Are you an undercover pig as well?’. | |
| Shore Leave 205: [T]he pigs are watchin him like he’s got forty-inch tits. | |
| Boy from County Hell 14: It would take the pigs twenty minutes to race their way to [...] the feeder canal. | |
| Empty Wigs (t/s) 335: A gangly, tall, freckly, smiling, dogless customs pig. |
(b) an informer.
| Sl. Dict. 253: Pig an informer. The word is now almost exclusively applied by London thieves to a plain-clothes man, or a ‘nose.’. | |
| Graphic (London) 30 Jan. 23/1: Constables used to be known as [...] ‘pig’ [but this is] now almost exclusively applied to a man in plain clothes, who acts as an informer and spy for the regular police and who is also [...] known as a ‘nose’. | |
| Life In Sing Sing 251: Pig. Prisoner who reports another; stool-pigeon. | |
| ‘Criminal Sl.’ in Amer. Law Rev. LII (1918) 891: A ‘prison stool pigeon’ is a ‘trusty,’ ‘psalm singer’ or ‘pig’. | |
| Keys to Crookdom 413: Pig. A traitor, stool pigeon, squealer. | |
| Criminal Sl. (rev. edn). | |
| Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 140/1: pig n. 4 an over-inquisitive person. |
(c) any conventional person, a member of the Establishment or authorities.
| Capricornia (1939) 200: Consider the callosity of these parliamentary pigs. | |
| Family 176: It’s the pigs’ turn to go up on the cross. | |
| Rum, Bum and Concertina (1978) 15: On the whole contact with the Upper deck remained minimal. Collectively we referred to them as ‘the pigs’. | |
| (con. 1970) 13th Valley (1983) 22: Fuck the Army. Fuck the green machine. Salute this pig. Salute that pig. | |
| Shagadelically Speaking 101: ‘Those capitalist pigs will pay for their crimes, eh, comrades?’ offers Austin. | |
| Vatican Bloodbath 10: ‘fuck you, pig!’ said one disciple, grabbing his sword and whacking the head off a Roman Centurion. |
(d) a prison warder.
| Bad (1995) 77: Finally the pigs put him in solitary. | |
| Southern Illinoisan (Carbondale, IL) 7 Apr. 4/1: Prison Slang [...] Police, hack, pig, cop. Guards. | |
| Monster (1994) 284: The rebels went after the trustees, the faithful servants of the pigs. | |
| Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 140/1: pig n. 2 a prison officer. 3 (also pig dog) the police narcotics detection dog. | |
| You Got Nothing Coming 173: The good old days in the joint — the late sixties and seventies — when the guards (‘the pigs!’) were the true enemy instead of fellow convicts. |
(e) (US black) a white person.
| Runnin’ Down Some Lines 249: pig [...] 2. Any white person. |
3. a sixpence [play on half-a-hog under hog n.].
| Dublin Monitor 11 Sept. 3/3: The common people call the English shilling ‘a hog,’ and the six-pence, ‘a pig’. | |
| Morn. Bulletin (Rockhampton, Qld) 18 July 2/6: For our next coin in value [i.e. sixpence] twenty names are found [...] ‘Fyebuck,’ ‘half-hog,’ ‘kick,’ ‘lord of the manor,’ ‘pig,’ ‘pot,’ ‘say saltee,' ’sprat,’ ‘snid,’ ‘simon,’ ‘sow's baby,’ ’tanner,’ tester,’ and ‘tizzy’. | |
| Dundee Eve. Teleg. 19 July 2/4: Sixpence is a popular coin in slangdom [...] ‘half-a-hog,’ ‘kick,’ (thus two and a ‘kick’ 2s 6d)‘lord of the manor,’ ‘pig,’ ‘pot,’ ‘snid,’ ‘sow’s baby’. |
4. a warming pan, a hot water bottle.
| [ | | Pierce Egan’s Life in London 15 Jan. 407/3: [E]very thing tidy and in its proper place, save a large pig, or jar, with which she had been in the habit of ‘carrying in’ her water]. |
| Carlisle Jrnl 18 Jan. 3/1: ‘Shall I put a pig in your bed to keep you warm?’. | |
| Wkly Kansas Chief (Troy, KS) 3 Mar. 4/3: The sheets are cold as ice; I’ll fetch ye up a fine, warm cosy pig. | |
| Regiment 11 June 165/1: ‘It's a cauld nicht,’ said the landlord, ‘wull ye hae a pig i’ the bed to warm yer taes?’. | |
| Travels of Tramp-Royal 322: pig, hot-water bottle. |
5. (UK und.) a prison (perhaps a specific nickname).
| Vultures of the City in Illus. Police News 15 Dec. 12/1: Stab will land some of us in the pig! He only came out of the Steel (House of Correction, Pentonville) yesterday, and plays this ’ere game to-night. He’s snide. Bill—too much the old soldier he is for me. |
6. a venereal ulcer.
| Gilt Kid 82: ‘I expect I’ll have got every bloody kind of dose through kipping with you.’ ‘Yes and a pig in the groin.’. |
7. a vehicle.
(a) (US) a discontinued model of motorcar, a run-down, dilapidated motorcar, a car that looks good but has a small, low-powered engine; also attrib.
| Gem 16 Mar. 4: She’s a slow old pig of a boat. | |
| ‘Hot Rod Lexicon’ in Hepster’s Dict. 5: Pig – Dog [i.e. outstandingly bad car]. | |
| Brown’s Requiem 166: A car pulled into the circular driveway—a full pig Chrysler convertible. | |
| Way Past Cool 146: A battered, big-pig station wagon that probably belonged to some homeless family. |
(b) (US tramp) a railroad engine.
| Amer. Tramp and Und. Sl. 145: Pig.–A locomotive. | |
| High Iron 223: Pig: Locomotive. Pig-Mauler: Engineer. |
(c) (US black) a Cadillac.
| cited in Juba to Jive (1994). |
8. (US Und.) a hardware store; the goods it sells [joc. abbr. of SE pig iron].
| Vocab. Criminal Sl. |
9. (US prison) any form of meat.
| ‘The Chatter of Guns’ in Sat. Eve. Post 13 Apr.; list extracted in AS VI:2 (1930) 133: pig, n. Meat. | |
| ‘The Game’ in Kochman Rappin’ and Stylin’ Out (1972) 396: The broad continued whispering while Mac destroyed the pig. |
10. (US Und.) a dollar.
| Und. and Prison Sl. |
11. anything considered difficult or exhausting to achieve.
| et al. CUSS 170: Pig Difficult course. Difficult exam. | |
| Enderby Outside in Complete Enderby (2002) 364: A pig of a pity. | |
| Homesickness (1999) 356: Doug and I have had a pig of a day. | |
| (con. 1960s) London Blues 123: I walked into the room after a real pig of a day in Wardour Street. | |
| Indep. on Sun. Rev. 30 Jan. 16: It’s a pig. |
12. (N.Z.) a flagon of beer.
| Dict. of Kiwi Sl. 83/2: pig flagon of beer. | |
| Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. [as cit. 1988]. |
13. see blind pig n.
In derivatives
a police car.
| in Paper Revolutionaries 139/2: They dragged him down the hill to the concrete and then, joined by a fifth crony carried him to a nearby pigmobile. | |
| Proving 165: You figure every car behind you on the freeway for a pigmobile. | |
| Transient Ways 7: An undercover pigmobile tried to be slick and follow us— like we couldn't tell he was a stupid fucking pig. | |
| Nature of Flames 95: The surprised drivers [...] not sure they saw a nude Paki schizo yell obscenities at the cops in the pigmobile. | |
| Panopticon (2013) 116: I chore the first polis light off PC Craig’s pigmobile at 6 am. |
In compounds
(US black) any black who informs against their own people to the (white) police.
| Runnin’ Down Some Lines xviii: Pig brothers, Tom-a-lees, they jus’ black people, tommin’ fo’ d’ white folks. | |
| Lowspeak. |
1. a fantasy paradise that would delight the gross rather than the fastidious.
| [ | | Ottawa Free Trader (IL) 1 Oct. 4/5: Pig-heaven and goose paradise . . . Ottawa Center]. |
| Pittsburgh Courier (PA) 4 Aug. 10/8: The pretty little ladies [...] were in ‘pig heaven’ with potato chips, cookies, candy, etc. | |
| On the Pad 112: The action was so intense, the take so high, it [i.e. extra payoffs] hardly mattered. It was, Phillips said, pig heaven. | |
| quoted in ‘Food Fight’ on MSNBC News 🌐 ‘I mean, I could see the fat dripping down his lips,’ says Frank. ‘He was right there in pig heaven.’. |
2. (US black) a police station.
| Runnin’ Down Some Lines 67: Characteristic of the police-related lexicon is an ironic, if sometimes grim, humor that is embodied in names like [...] pig heaven (police station). |
see sense 2a above.
(orig. US) an orgy of eating; also attrib.
| Further Tales of the City (1984) 117: I haven’t had a good TV-and-junk-food pig-out in ages. | |
| Official and Doubtful 265: It’s a social occasion, not a pig-out. | |
| Source Aug. 124: It wasn’t like he was a pig-out eater. |
1. (US) any dirty, unpleasant place.
| N.E. Police Gaz. (Boston, MA) 12 Oct. 5/1: Ida Pratt smells badly [...] The perfume from her unwashed stockings gives us full assurance that she uses all her soap for snuff digging. Her pigpen is at No. 37 Emerald street. | |
| Home to Harlem 148: Better here than the Pennsy pigpen. | |
| Really the Blues 121: There wasn’t one sheet on the beds in this part of the pigpen. | |
| Daddy Cool (1997) 69: If my cash had been right, do you think I would have stuck you in this motherfuckin’ pigpen? | |
| Goodfellas [film script] 84: I told you to clean up [...] It’s a pigpen. |
2. a police station; priison warders’ office.
| Come Home, Malcolm Heartland 131: Then there’s the Tanzanian teacher who goes to the pig pen to stand surety for his friend who’s been arrested. | |
| Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 140/2: pig pen n. the prison officials’ office, the guard house. |
(US) for a woman to fellate one man while having rear-entry intercourse with a second.
| Las Vegas Weekly 8 Jan. 🌐 Porn Glossary [...] Pig Roast -- Having ‘relations’ with a woman from behind while she is sucking on another man's, uhh..., tummystick. |
1. (Aus.) a mini-bus hired by a group of young men out for a night’s hedonism.
| Sydney Morn. Herald 12 Dec. 14/2: They joined the Cross’s nightly gridlock of [...] ‘pig wagons,’ the sneering term locals use for hired mini-buses of young men on a night’s ran-tan. |
2. a police van.
| ‘Darkwax’ 11 Aug. at Mojofat.com 🌐 On my way home I was bombing, as it is downhill most of the way home. A cop heading up the hill and hit their lights. I skated over to where they were getting out of their pig-wagon. |
In phrases
see under dance v.
(orig. US) to act in a gluttonous manner, to be extremely greedy.
| Babbitt (1974) 14: Mean to imply I make a hog of myself, eating down-town? | |
| Scrambled Yeggs 23: ‘Drink?’ ‘O.K. One more, then.’ I didn’t want to make a pig of myself. |
SE in slang uses
In compounds
stupid, a general abusive epithet.
| Household Words 20 Mar. 331/1: Pig-brained! not done of that yet! | |
| Border Mag. Oct. 350: He was hare-brained as regarded things which suited his fancy, and pig-brained as respected those which solicited and required. | |
| Bulletin (Sydney) 17 Jan. 22/2: If he has any differences to settle of his own, let him name the time and place, and not go sneaking round our heels like a mangy cus, the tool of that owl-faced, spike-nosed, walking rum cask of a pig-brained J.P., whose villainous Cain-like form would better grace the gallows than the Bench. | |
| Spokane Press (WA) 30 Nov. 2/1: The talented useful man would rank high above the pig-brained millionaire. | |
| Birmingham Dly Post 8 Dec. 6/7: ‘Pig-brained’ or ‘pig-headed’ savours of the lowest. |
a general term of affection.
| A Trick to Catch the Old One IV i: Give you joy, Mistress Hoard; let the kiss come about. / Who knocks? Convey my little pig-eater out. | |
| Sl. and Its Analogues. |
a general term of abuse; the assumption is of ugliness.
| Pat the Apothecary 14: Lou: Dat pigface gemman sell me dis yer blame glue. | |
| Tom Tiddlers Ground 118: ‘Important resolution in the House to-morrow and I promised old Pigface’ He must have noticed a startled look on Tom's face for he interrupted himself to say, ‘That’s the Secretary for Organization, you know’. | |
| They Die with Their Boots Clean 5: You’re going to kick old pigface Gooring from hell to breakfast. | |
| Summer Glare 47: I pulled a pig-face at him, and he pulled one back at me. | |
| Tharunka (Sydney) 8 Nov. 28/2: ‘What do you want, pigface?’ . | |
| Great Santini (1977) 16: You’re lucky Mom stopped me, pig-face. | |
| That Eye, The Sky 39: I hate yer big flubbery guts and yer pig face. | |
| Pigeon English 70: No thanks, Pigface! I’d rather kiss my own behind! |
an abusive epithet, describing an ugly person or used as an insult.
| [ | | Malcontent IV iii: The buff-captain, the sallow Westphalian gammon-faced zaza]. |
| The Wonderful Monkey of Liverpool 1/1: You bandy-legged, pistol-shinned, shamrock! you long-tailed, beetle-browed, pig-faced scoundrel! | |
| My Diary in America II 160: Every girl who is not the Pig-Faced Lady can get married. | |
| Taboro’ Southerner (NC) 7 Jan. 1/5: I’ll scald you, you old pig-faced brute. | |
| News & Citizen (Morrisville, VT) 20 Aug. 6/5: You lop[-eared, mangy, pig-faced, herring-gutted sone of a — . |
(US) a worthless, very unpleasant person.
| in Limerick (1953) 172: He cried / At the thought that the pigfuckers penetrate! | |
| letter 18 Apr. in Proud Highway (1997) 509: One more strike against those pig-fuckers. | |
| Carlito’s Way 132: He was a pig-fucker but he was bad. | |
| Outside In Act II: sandy: ARSELICKER! DOG! CUNT! kate: PIG FUCKER!!! | |
| South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut [film script] You’re such a pigfucker, Phillip! | |
| Tattoo of a Naked Lady 97: I poured it on, dusting the pigfucker. Soon his headlights were only pinpoints in the rearview. | |
| Snitch Jacket 19: Those jackboot pigfuckers. | |
| Twitter 30 Jan. 🌐 I’d like to introduce you to the actual President Of The United States, an unmarried, angry, whiskey-soaked pig fucker named Steve Bannon. |
worthless, unpleasant.
| Queen of the Night 249: I took my precious bike into the room with me because the pigfucking landlord looked like a bandit. | |
| (con. 1940s) Hold Tight (1990) 129: Pig-fucking cracker. Dumbass asshole. | |
| Stone Flute 100: That unholy, pigfucking lily-handed noble son of a cursed baby-raping cannibal arse-sucking worm's mother! | |
| Darker Side of Paradise [ebook] I had you pegged as a rumguzzling, pigfucking, cocksucking night prison guard. | |
| Price You Pay 178: [Y]ou pigfucking shitmonkey. |
see pigpen Irish
1. (US) an order of sausages.
| N.Y. Herald 1 Apr. 9/6: During his stay in the restaurant the reporter learned several things he never knew [...] That ‘pig iron’ meant fried sausages. |
2. alcohol, often cheap and unpleasant .
| ‘Kansas University Sl.’ in AS III:3 219: Get a load of pig iron, v. phr.—To go out and buy some liquor. |
3. (Irish) fun, devilment, amusement; usu. as for the pig-iron, for the fun of it.
| Irish Times 12 Sept. n.p.: I did attempt to make and bake a fruit cake, just for pig iron, so to speak [BS]. | |
| Guru’s Guide to SQL Servers 303: Just for kicks (or, just for pig iron, as an Irish friend of mine likes to say), let’s create a deterministic function. | |
| Free Money 51: fter a while you’d see the hands going into pockets, and maybe a tenner coming out, just for pig-iron . |
terrible, useless, rubbish, a general negative.
| Get Your Ass in the Water (1974) 86: Now brothers of this disciple’s field, who livin’ this most unrighteous life, / while travelin’ through this big pigiron world / tryin’ to make a hellofa rep everywhere you go, takin’ other people’s dough: / stop! |
(US) a hardware store.
| You Can’t Win 11 8: The guns [...] are probably stolen from some pig-iron dump (hardware store) outside of the state. |
(Aus.) of a horse, to jump with all four legs in the air at once; also as n.; ext. to a surprised human.
| Return of Joe 11: The beast of a Charlie! [...] he bucked before I was ready. Not pig-jumped – he bucked hard. | |
| ‘The Disposal of a Dog’ in Benno and Some of the Push 137: Wait till Spats sees the bill from Squills. Jimmy Jee, won’t he pig-jump! | |
| (con. 1875) Te Waimate (1954) 257: The pack horse, who was a flight brute, set to work kicking and pig-jumping. | |
| ‘Australian Cattle Lingo’ in AS XXXIII:3 167: pig jump, n. phr. A stiff-legged jump by a bucking horse. | |
| Ernie and the Rest of Us 110: A poor performance of a bucking by a horse was called ‘only pig-jumping’. |
1. sexual intercourse.
| ‘Keep It To Yourself’ 🎵 If your man is nice and sweet / Serving you lots of young pigmeat / Oh yes, keep it to yourself. | |
| ‘Pigmeat and Whisky Blues’ 🎵 Talkin’ about that woman, live down across the street / I used to like her love, oh that hard pigmeat can’t be beat / I got drunk and give ’r all my money, pigmeat was better than all the gold. |
2. a young woman, esp. an attractive one; a sexually attractive young man.
| ‘Pigmeat Blues’ 🎵 Look heah, papa, you don’t treat pigmeat the way you should. | |
| ‘Lowing Heifer’ 🎵 I found me a pigmeat heifer. | |
| Pittsburgh Courier (PA) 24 May 11/2: Pigmeat — Young, vivacious, fresh like a rose . . . The International Sweethearts of Rhythm are the best-looking group of pigmeat our glimmers have beheld in many brights. | |
| Blues Fell this Morning 126: The Negro speaks of himself as a ‘sweet pap pigmeat’. | |
| (con. 1930s) Lawd Today 110: ‘She’s mellow!’ ‘She’s pig meat!’. | |
| (con. 1950s) Selections from the Gutter 205: For the past 26 years, ‘Pigmeat’ Alamo Markham has been known to theaters and vaudeville houses. |
3. a promiscuous woman; a prostitute.
| Prison Community (1940) 334/2: pig meat, n. A young dusky Negress; applied usually to one whose appearance hints of prostitution. | |
| ‘Watch Out for Daddy’ in Entrapment (2009) 119: ‘I weren’t no hare on the mountain. I’d been pigmeat two whole years.’ ‘Who made a whoor out of you? Who turned you out?’. | |
| 5000 Adult Sex Words and Phrases. | |
| Lively Commerce 41: ‘Biffer,’ ‘prossie,’ ‘she-she,’ ‘pig-meat’ are some other slang designations. |
4. (US gay) an underage boy.
| Queens’ Vernacular 44: any boy under the age of consent [...] pig meat (fr black sl = sexually inexperienced but willing girl). |
see pigger n.
a general derog.; euph. for crappy adj. (5) or shitty adj.1 (3)
| Long and the Short and the Tall Act I: I’d like to ram his pig-muck battery down his throat, that’s all. |
an orgy, a gang-rape.
| City of Spades (1964) 180: They was having an orgy when I left, but me, I don’t care for these pig-parties or gang-bangs whatsoever. | |
| et al. CUSS 170: Pig party A drinking party. AS wild party. | |
| Dict. of Obscenity etc. |
(US) lower-class, poor Irish.
| ‘Merry Clouters’ in Fellow Countrymen (1937) 396: Andy said that Hennessey was just pig-pen Irish. | |
| (con. 1910s) Young Lonigan in Studs Lonigan (1936) 10: They were always calling him names: pigpen Irish. [Ibid.] 136: He didn’t want the sweetheart of the pig Irish. | |
| Gas-House McGinty 337: Put the damper on. Jesus, I don’t want the neighbors thinkin’ I’m pigpen Irish. |
(US) a disorderly pile of people.
| Gone, Baby, Gone 64: [T]he kids tackled and rolled and bounced off one another like bumper cars. [...] ‘[...] [Y]ou see that pig pile out there? If we don't get somebody to stop it, they’ll [...] forget why they came in the first place’. |
(US) one who specialises in the farming or management of pigs .
| Chariton Courier (Keyesville, MO) 25 Feb. 5/1: A carload of hogs [with] G.L. Sisler [...] accompanying the shipment as ‘pig puncher’. | |
| Hands Up! 119: Every inducement was offered Wooldridge, the pig puncher, to join Moore and Carter and skin Farley out of his money. | |
| Alton Eve. Teleg. (IL) 15 Jan. 2/3: Police, farmers and truckemen were pressed into service as ‘pig-punchers’ in rounding up stray hogs [etc]. |
(US gay) an orgy room.
| Queens’ Vernacular. | |
| Gay (S)language. |
(Aus.) to ride.
| Bulletin (Sydney) 18 Jan. 28/1: Peters, however, was thinking of the old days over in Victoria, when one Tom Matthews and he had persistently ‘wagged it’ from school in order to go prospecting and pig-rooting among the hills. | |
| Sun. Times (Perth) 13 Oct. 4/7: In the days when the mob were pig-rooting around Fly Flat and elsewhere. |
see separate entry.
see pig’s arse n.1
see dog’s dinner n.
a stubborn fool, a ‘pig-headed’ person.
| City-Madam III i: He is no pigkl,l Mistris. | |
| Egoist Ch. xxxvii: These representatives of the pig-sconces of the population [F&H]. |
see separate entry.
1. in cards, the ace of diamonds.
| , , | | Sl. Dict. |
| Aus. Sl. Dict. 58: Pig’s Eye, the ace of diamonds. |
2. (also pig’s-eye-in-a-bottle) a term of abuse.
| (con. 1880–90s) I Knock at the Door 198: Away, for Christ’s sake outa me sight, you hand-gropin’ pig’s-eye-in-a-bottle, you! |
3. (Can.) the pig’s eye, something excellent, outstanding, first-rate.
| DSUE (8th edn) /: Can. —1932 [...] † by 1959. |
(US Und.) a forked crowbar.
| Vocabulum. | |
| Aus. Sl. Dict. 58: Pig’s Foot or Jimmy, an iron bar cloven at one end. |
furious, enraged; thus pig-sick of, infuriated by, incapable of tolerating.
| Lowlife (2001) 188: I was pigsick with fright all that week. | |
| Blow Your House Down 110: Jean, I was pig-sick of having nowt. |
see separate entry.
(Polari) a stye in the eye.
| Fabulosa 296/2: pig’s lattie a sty on the eye . |
see cat’s meow n.
see separate entry.
see separate entry.
(US) bacon.
| ‘Secret Guns’ in Thrilling Western May 🌐 ‘Pig strip and hen fruit,’ Crittenden ordered. |
(US black) living in filthy circumstances.
| Jailhouse Jargon and Street Sl. [unpub. ms.]. |
1. beer.
| Tucker’s People (1944) 256: ‘What do you want?’ ‘If you can spare it, the same pig sweat as for him.’ Wally pointed to Bauer [...] Palumbo filled two glasses with ale. |
2. inferior ‘rotgut’ bourbon.
| Ballad of Lucy Whipple 70: I already know forty-eight words for liquor [...] panther piss, pig sweat, rotgut, sheep wash, snake juice [etc.]. |
see separate entry.
1. a very short time.
| Cambridge Examination Paper in Works (1901) 118: ‘Pig’s whisper’ is slang for a very brief space of time. [...] the Americans have ‘pig’s whistle’ with the same meaning. | |
| Dict. of Sl., Jargon and Cant. |
2. (US) a barely audible tone of voice.
| Sun (NY) 1 Feb. 22/7: Mrs Booth said that her favorite method [...] was to study the part in a softly audible tone. My mother used to call it as ‘pig’s whistle’. |
nonsense, rubbish; thus excl. pigswill! rubbish!
| posting at www.roma-victor.com 13 May 🌐 This is the first great plan a baldwick has ever had! for centuries we’ve tried, but they always turn out to be total pigswill! | |
| review at www.best-video-price.co.uk 🌐 Godawful Soo Bad! Both these stories are utter pigswill i hated them both. |
see separate entry.
(US) the slums.
| in Sweet Daddy 15: Guinea town, you know, wop town – pig town East Side. [Ibid.] 66: The whole school was strictly from pigtown. | |
| ‘Old Cases’ Wire ser. 1 ep. 4 [TV script] Hopping around like a one-legged pig town whore on check day. |
(US) the slums, usu. seen as an Irish immigrant enclave.
| Boston Blade 8 July n.p.: A line of wooden buildings, inhabited by the lowest Irish [...] As a visiter [sic] enters Pigville [...] he sees upon his left a row of miserable and squalid tenements. | |
| (con. mid-19C) Water for Hartford (2010) 19: The Irish wards [...] which the Courant took great delight in caling ‘Pigville’. |
In phrases
(N.Z.) a phr. of resignation, acceptance.
| Dict. of Kiwi Sl. 9/1: all around the pig’s arse there is pork indicating acceptance, resignation, fatalism, in regard to a fait accompli, such as an opponent’s winning snooker break. | |
| Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. [as cit. 1988]. |
see separate entry.
phr. of affirmation.
| Odd Fellow (London) 23 Oct. 1/2: ‘Could a pig grunt’ answered Dennis. |
see under drive v.1
1. (Scot.) to be ruined financially.
| Har’st Rig 48: The back-ga’en fell ahint, And couldns stand; So he to pigs-and-whistles went, And left the land [F&H]. | |
| Bristol Mirror 16 June 4/3: One of the great cotton speculators, in the year 1809, fell to the pigs and whistles. | |
| Entail I 9: I would be nane surprised the morn to hear that the Nebuchadnezzar was a’ gane to pigs and whistles, and driven out wi’ the divors bill to the barren pastures of bankruptcy. | |
| Tipperary Free Press 11 Feb. 4/1: Old Buchanan must go all to pigs and whistles. | |
| Dundee Courier 15 Dec. 1/7: The company [...] has already gone to pigs and whistles. |
2. to fail, to collapse.
| Perthshire Courier 27 Oct. 3/1: We are a’ goin’ here to pigs and whistles since Lord Jauphrey was made Lord Advocate. | |
| Belfast Commercial Chron. 30 June 4/3: It was during this state of things that in point of doctrine and discipline the Synod of Ulster had gone to pigs and whistles. | |
| Edinburgh Eve. News 2 Nov. 2/5: [He] said that the old Liberal party had gone to pigs and whistles. | |
| Motherwell Times 5 Apr. 6/1: The penatly kick [...] demoralised them and the team went to pigs and whistles. | |
| Falkirk Herald 30 Jan. 3/7: They were seldom at school and never out of trouble. The whole family [...] was just going to pigs and whistles. |
to be the master in one’s own home.
| , , | | Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: Pig [...] he can have boil’d pig at home, a mark of being master of his own house, an allusion to a well-known poem and story. |
| Lex. Balatronicum [as cit. 1785]. | |
| Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue. |
to be incompetent.
| Polite Conversation 30: miss.: Pray come you hither, and try and open this Lock. nev.: We’ll try what we can do. miss.: We! what, have you Pigs in your Belly? |
pregnant.
| DSUE (8th edn) 879: [...] since late Nancy Mitford, Pursuit of Love , 1945. |
see a.h. n.
(US) the response to a question to which the answer is definitely in the affirmative.
| Flesh and Blood (1978) 32: ‘Irish, right?’ ‘Is a pig’s pussy pork?’. | |
| Maledicta 1 (Summer) 77: Host—‘Would you like a beer?’ Guest—‘Is a pig’s ass pork?’. | |
| Homeboy 17: ‘Say, you holdin that dandy candy?’ ‘Is a pig’s pussy pork?’. | |
| (con. 1960s) Blood Brothers 56: I asked Shilee if she would like to go there. ‘Is pig pussy pork? Stupid,’ she said. |
(UK prison) to deprive the weaker members of a group of their fair share of rations, permitting them only spoiled or left-over food.
| (con. 1820s) Settlers & Convicts 357: Three or four more of the biggest and strongest boys, used to ‘keep pigs,’ as it was there [i.e. the prison hulks] called; that is to say, they used to take away all their food from the little boys, and using the best, throw them back the offal (potato peelings, gristle, crusts). |
constantly in or causing trouble.
| Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue ms. additions n.p.: Goodyers Pig. Like Goodyers Pig, never well but when in mischief. |
(US) in decline.
| Anaconda Standard (MO) 23 Sept. 5/3: ‘The country goes on de pig fer sure.’ ‘On the pig?’ ‘Yes, on th’ blow card — on de skates — down th’ tobog — shoot de chutes.’. |
(Irish/Aus./N.Z.) living in luxury, living well, in good fortune; thus home on the pig’s back, very contented, happily or successfully placed, having arrived at a successful conclusion.
| Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era. | |
| Dinny on the Doorstep 174: I thought myself on the Pig’s Back, when I heard of it this morning. | |
| Ulysses 172: Prescott’s ad. Two fifteen. Five guineas about. On the pig’s back. | |
| Best of Myles (1968) 276: My opinion was that they were on the pig’s back to be over there at all. | |
| Northern Whig 31 Oct. 1/1: And now Mrs Evans is on the pig’s back! | |
| Come in Spinner (1960) 383: Add four hundred to what they had already won tonight and they’d be home on the pig’s back. | |
| Word for Word 171: Special Christmas cards for the very special customers, at very special prices; which means cost. After that we’re home on the pig’s back. | |
| ‘Stiff Luck for the Colonel’ in Three Stories 54: They’re rushing up the straight [...] He’s a monty! We always were lucky. He’s home on the pig’s ear. | |
| Even without Irene 26: Someone remarked ‘Henry’s on the pig’s back now.’ [...] they seemed to imply that Father had just had a stroke of luck. | |
| Da (1981) Act I: We’ll be on the pig’s back then, Da, won’t we? When we’re rich. | |
| Out After Dark 49: By birthright and an innate superiority they should have been on the pig’s back for life. [Ibid.] 54: It was the sweet life, easy street, clover, the pig’s back. | |
| Secret World of the Irish Male (1995) 85: Me bollix. On the pig’s back up there. Don’t talk to me about deprived, when I think abou’ that place I want to gawk. | |
| Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. 104: home on the pig’s back Easy success or attended by good fortune. ANZ c1910. |
(US) a ham sandwich.
| Wise-crack Dict. 9/1: Gun between the sheets for a traitor – Ham sandwich for Sammy Moskowitz. | |
| Star (Marion, OH) 19 Sept. 6/5: For years restaurant counter men and waiters have used their own language in relaying orders to busy chefs. [...] Among the favorites and best known are: [...] ‘pig between sheets,’ ham sandwich. |
(US) a ham sandwich with mustard.
| Pittsburgh Dispatch (PA) 26 Jan. 9/7: ‘Pig in the mud’ is the suggestive name for a ham sandwich with mustard. |
see pig’s eye
(US tramp) sow belly, or any fat bacon.
| Milk and Honey Route 211: Pig’s vest with buttons – Sow belly, or any fat bacon. | |
| Great Bend Trib. (KS) 2 July 3/1: Salt pork might be anything from ‘hog side’ to [...] ‘a pig’s vest with buttons’. | |
| (con. 1950-1960) Dict. Inmate Sl. (Walla Walla, WA) 4: Bacon – pig’s-vest-‘n-buttons. |
exceptionally stupid.
| GBH 246: ‘[H]e’s not as pig-thick as he appears’. |
(Aus. Und.) to work as a pickpocket.
| Bell’s Life in Sydney 12 May 3/3: He proffered to give me ‘regulars,’ or ‘a score of pounds,’ if I’d let him perform certain peculiar operations on the pockets of the mob; he asked me to let him ‘work the pig’ and ‘come the barber,’ meaning to pick pockets. |
In exclamations
see separate entry.