hog

Etymology 1

From Middle English hog, from Old English hogg, hocg (“hog”), possibly from Old Norse hǫggva (“to strike, chop, cut”), from Proto-Germanic *hawwaną (“to hew, forge”), from Proto-Indo-European *kewh₂- (“to beat, hew, forge”). Cognate with Old High German houwan, Old Saxon hauwan, Old English hēawan (English hew). Hog originally meant a castrated male pig, hence a sense of “the cut one”. (Compare hogget for a castrated male sheep.) More at hew. Alternatively from a Brythonic language, from Proto-Celtic *sukkos, from Proto-Indo-European *suH- and thus cognate with Welsh hwch (“sow”) and Cornish hogh (“pig”).

noun

1. Any animal belonging to the Suidae family of mammals, especially the pig, the warthog, and the boar.
2. (specifically) An adult swine (contrasted with a pig, a young swine).
   Weanlings grow into feeder pigs, and feeder pigs grow into slaughter hogs. […] Ultimately the end use for virtually all pigs and hogs is to be slaughtered for the production of pork and other products. 2005 April, Live Swine from Canada, Investigation No. 731-TA-1076 (Final), publication 3766, April 2005, U.S. International Trade Commission, page I-9
3. (slang) A greedy person or thing; one who refuses to share.
   Since the latest upgrade, this program has turned into a CPU hog.
4. (slang) A large motorcycle, particularly a Harley-Davidson.
5. (UK) A young sheep that has not been shorn.
6. (nautical) A rough, flat scrubbing broom for scrubbing a ship's bottom under water.
   Hog, on board a ship, is a sort of flat scrubbing-broom, formed by inclosing a number of short twigs of birch or such wood between two pieces of plank fastened together, and cutting off the ends of the twigs. It is used to scrape the filth from a ship's bottom under water, particularly in the act of boot-topping. For this purpose they fit to this broom a long staff with two ropes; one of which is used to thrust the hog under the ship's bottom, and the other to guide and pull it up again close to the planks. 1813, John Mason Good, Olinthus Gilbert Gregory, Newton Bosworth, Pantologia. A new (cabinet) cyclopædia, volume 5, T. Davison, Lombard street, Whitefriars, page 11
7. A device for mixing and stirring the pulp from which paper is made.
8. (UK, historical, archaic slang, countable and uncountable) A shilling coin; its value, 12 old pence.
   hog (pl hog). A shilling: orig. (ca 1670), c.; in C.19–20, low s. 1961, Eric Partridge, The Routledge Dictionary of Historical Slang
9. (UK, historical, obsolete slang, countable and uncountable) A tanner, a sixpence coin; its value.
   hog (pl hog)... 2. In C.18–early 19, occ. a sixpence: also c., whence the U.S. sense. Prob. ex the figure of a hog on a small silver coin. 1961, Eric Partridge, The Routledge Dictionary of Historical Slang
10. (UK, historical, obsolete slang, countable and uncountable) A half-crown coin; its value, 30 old pence.
    hog (pl hog)... 3. A half-crown: ca 1860–1910. 1961, Eric Partridge, The Routledge Dictionary of Historical Slang
11. (nautical) the effect of the middle of the hull of a ship rising while the ends droop
    I would not consider a ship unseaworthy because she had a hog. There is no danger to life in sailing in a hogged ship. I have sailed in vessels having a 2-ft. hog in the keel. The keel has been straightened by being filled in underneath. 1920, The Records of the Proceedings and the Printed Papers, Parliamentary paper
    On inspection it was found that the vessel's keel had a hog of nearly fourteen inches. 2007, Charles E. Brodine, Michael J. Crawford, Christine F. Hughes, Interpreting Old Ironsides: An Illustrated Guide to USS Constitution, Government Printing Office, page 84

verb

1. (transitive) To greedily take more than one's share, to take precedence at the expense of another or others.
   Hey! Quit hogging all the blankets.
   The … air-conditioning unit didn't work very good, and there was only one fan; and from the minute me and Winn-Dixie got in the library, he hogged it all. 2000, Kate DiCamillo, chapter 15, in Because of Winn-Dixie, New York: Scholastic Inc.
2. (transitive) To clip the mane of a horse, making it short and bristly.
   Some, perhaps, would wish to plait or shave the tail and crimp or hog the mane to complete the picture. 1880, William Day, The Racehorse in Training
3. (nautical) To scrub with a hog, or scrubbing broom.
4. (transitive, nautical) To cause the keel of a ship to arch upwards (the opposite of sag).
   Although most of the buoyancy of a ship is provided by the middle part of the hull and comparatively little by the tapering ends, nothing will ever prevent people from putting heavy weights into the ends of a ship. One result of this is that many vessels tend to 'hog' (the two ends tend to droop and the middle of the hull tends to rise). 1991, J. E. Gordon, Structures: Or Why Things Don't Fall Down, Penguin UK, page 52
   Difficulty may be encountered when securing cargo hatches on ships which hog or sag and the water-tight integrity of the ship may be impaired. 2013, H. I. Lavery, Shipboard Operations, Routledge, page 267

Etymology 2

verb

1. (transitive) To process (bark, etc.) into hog fuel.

Etymology 3

Clipping of quahog

noun

1. (informal) A quahog (clam)