high on the hog

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

An allusion to the best and costliest cuts of meat from a hog, considered to be parts above the belly such as the loin, rather than lower parts such as the feet, knuckles, hocks, belly, and jowls. US, late 1800s;[1] popularized 1940s. The variant forms – live/eat and on/off – are attested since at least the 1930s. However, decades earlier is the phrase on the hog, originally on the hog train meaning someone living on little expense.

Pronunciation
  • Audio (AU)(file)

Adverb

high on the hog (comparative higher on the hog, superlative highest on the hog)

  1. (idiomatic, US) Well off; living comfortably or extravagantly due to great wealth or financial security.
    Ever since his promotion, they’ve been living high on the hog.
    • 1912, George S. Jack, Edward Boyle Jacobs, History of Roanoke County,, page 29:
      With all the tenderloin, spareribs and backbones, we lived “high off the hog”.
    • 1927, Allegheny Regional Advisory Board, Proceedings of the regular meeting,, page 21:
      Down our way there is a favorite expression used quite often—“eating high on the hog”. That is what our competitors have been doing…
    • 1934, Time, Volume 24, p. 68:
      The synthetic belle wins the prize and her creators are eating high off the hog until the nation’s Press demands a look at the original.
    • 2006, Julia Spencer-Fleming, All Mortal Flesh: A Clare Fergusson and Russ Van Alstyne Mystery:
      If she was pulling this scam off all that time, I think she'd be living a little higher on the hog, don't you?

Usage notes
  • Often used in the expressions “living high on the hog” and “eating high on the hog.”
  • The opposite, “low on the hog”, is much more rarely used.

See also

References
  1. Christine Ammer (1997) “high off the hog”, in American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms, first edition, Houghton Mifflin Company, →ISBN, pages 300–301.
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