bacon

Etymology

From Middle English bacoun (“meat from the back and sides of a pig”), from Anglo-Norman bacon, bacun (“ham, flitch, strip of lard”), from Old Low Frankish *bakō (“ham, flitch”), from Proto-Germanic *bakô, *bakkô (“back”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeg- (“back, buttocks; to vault, arch”). Cognate with Old High German bahho, bacho (“back, ham, side of bacon”) (compare Alemannic German Bache, Bachen), Old Saxon baco (“back”), Dutch bake (“side of bacon, ham”), Old English bæc (“back”). More at back. (police): Extension of pig (“police”).

noun

1. Cured meat from the sides, belly, or back of a pig.
   They fried the fish with bacon and were astonished, for no fish had ever seemed so delicious before. 2006, Joanna Pruess, Seduced by Bacon, The Lyons Press, page 93
   For us the pig's the means, while bacon is the end / Providing gustatory heights to which we can ascend. March 31, 2009, Laura Casey, “Piggin' out on bacon at S.F.'s BaconCamp”, in San Jose Mercury News, retrieved 2010-10-19
   Bacon is something that everybody is familiar with and most people grew up eating. It has a comfort aspect to it and a familiarity. It's also got an addictive aspect to it - that sweet and salty combination of flavors. And it's probably just a little bit unhealthy for you. When you get to have bacon, it's exciting and something you look forward to. August 12, 2009, Lisa Abraham, “Bacon comes home - Old favorite tastes even better when you do the curing yourself”, in Akron Beacon Journal, Akron, Ohio, page D1
2. Thin slices of the above in long strips.
3. (slang, derogatory) The police or spies.
   Run! It's the bacon!
4. (cycling, slang, uncountable) Road rash.
5. (military, archaic) A saucisse.