- (also hog especially in North American English)an animal with pink, black or brown skin, short legs, a broad nose and a short curly tail. Pigs are kept on farms for their meat (called pork) or live in the wild.
- a pig farmer
- Pigs were grunting and squealing in the yard.
- to breed/rear pigs
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- domestic
- feral
- wild
- …
- breed
- keep
- raise
- …
- grunt
- squeal
- farm
- farmer
- (informal, disapproving) a person who you find unpleasant or offensive; a person who you think is dirty or greedy
- Arrogant pig!
- Don't be such a pig!
- The greedy pig's eaten all the biscuits!
- She made a pig of herself with the ice cream (= ate too much).
- He's a real male chauvinist pig (= a man who does not think women are equal to men).
- We cooked up a load of pasta and all made pigs of ourselves.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- fat
- disgusting
- greedy
- …
- make a pig of yourself
- (slang, offensive) an offensive word for a police officer
Word OriginMiddle English: probably from the first element of Old English picbrēd ‘acorn’, literally ‘pig bread’ (i.e. food for pigs).
Idioms
See pig in the Oxford Advanced American Dictionarymake a pig’s ear (out) of something
- (British English, informal) to do something badly; to make a mess of something
(buy) a pig in a poke
- if you buy a pig in a poke, you buy something without seeing it or knowing if it is good enough
- Buying online can mean buying a pig in a poke.
a pig of a something
- (British English, informal) a difficult or unpleasant thing or task
- I've had a pig of a day.
pigs might fly (British English)
(North American English when pigs fly)
- (ironic, saying) used to show that you do not believe something will ever happen
- ‘With a bit of luck, we'll be finished by the end of the year.’ ‘Yes, and pigs might fly!’
put lipstick on a pig (informal, humorous)
- to make small changes to something, especially its outside appearance, to try and hide the fact that it has problems
- The change of policy doesn't go far enough—it's just putting lipstick on a pig.
Check pronunciation:
pig