high on the hog
advEtymology
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; 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.
Definitions
Well off
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.
- With all the tenderloin, spareribs and backbones, we lived “high off the hog”.
- Down our way there is a favorite expression used quite often—“eating high on the hog”. That is what our competitors have been doing…
The neighborhood
Vish — recursive loop
No curated loop yet for high on the hog. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.
sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA