living high on the hog

English

Alternative forms

• high off the hog

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 (General Australian):

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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

• cream of the crop
• high life
• live large
• upper crust
• well to do

 

References

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