couldn't stop a pig in a passage

verb

To be bow-legged.

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Meanings

verb
  1. YorkshireidiomaticTo be bow-legged.

    And he's got funny-looking legs from all the football he plays; talk about bowed legs! Couldn't stop a pig in a passage, that one.

    2011 March 1, KE Payne, 365 Days
    2 more examples

    Joe laughed. ‘Aye, I know I'm a funny little feller. I couldn't stop a pig in a passage, could I lass? But I'm good at me job, else Eddie wouldn't have asked me to come and look at that there roof.’

    2004, Margaret Dickinson, chapter 15, in Red Sky in the Morning

    I remember seeing old ladies with incredible bowlegs caused by rickets. Unkind folks would remark ‘They couldn't stop a pig in a passage’.

    2008, Wilf’ Lunn, My Best Cellar, page 112

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see
bow-legged
Cite this entry
APA

couldn't stop a pig in a passage. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/couldn't%20stop%20a%20pig%20in%20a%20passage

MLA

“couldn't stop a pig in a passage.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/couldn't%20stop%20a%20pig%20in%20a%20passage. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “couldn't stop a pig in a passage,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/couldn't%20stop%20a%20pig%20in%20a%20passage.

Source: couldn't stop a pig in a passage on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.