go the whole hog

Meanings

verbgo the whole hog (third-person singular simple present goes the whole hog, present participle going the whole hog, simple past went the whole hog, past participle gone the whole hog)

present singular third person goes the whole hog · participle present going the whole hog · past went the whole hog · participle past gone the whole hog · alternative go whole hog

USidiomaticinformalintransitiveTo do something as completely or entirely as possible; to hold back or reserve nothing.First known use early 19th c.
If you can afford a new computer, you might as well go the whole hog and get it custom built.
5 more examples
Having nothing else to do, I thought that I might, in part, amuse myself by observing the proceedings and listening to the remarks of a certain sea-captain (also a visiter at the same time), an Englishman born, and, though a naturalized citizen, an Englishman still in his heart, and notable for the rotundity of his assertions—"going the whole hog," as the saying now is. All his notions of perfection seemed to be derived from English things; […]
1831 June 4, “[Miscellaneous]”, in H[ezekiah] Niles, editor, Niles’ Weekly Register, […], volume IV, number 14 (Fourth Series; volume XL, number 1,028, overall), Baltimore, Md.: H. Niles, →OCLC, page 234, column 2
[W]e have, it is hoped, gone "the whole hog" in showing the main points in the life and death of a pig, and the varied services which—willingly or not—he renders to man.
1852, “All about Pigs”, in Charles Dickens, editor, Household Words. A Weekly Journal, volume V, number 123, New York, N.Y.: Angell, Engel & Hewitt, […], →OCLC, page 474, column 1
To gain influence in Canada, and be the leader of a party, a man must, as the Yankees say, "go the whole hog."
1853, [Susanna] Moodie, chapter II, in Life in the Clearings versus the Bush, London: Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 50
“[…] We had a glimpse of a Swann tremendously agitated. In a state of nerves. You see, Odette had left.” / “You mean to say that she has gone the ‘whole hog’ with him; that she has ‘burned her boats’?” inquired the Doctor cautiously, testing the meaning of his phrases.
1922, Marcel Proust, “Swann in Love”, in C[harles] K[enneth] Scott Moncrieff, transl., Remembrance of Things Past: Part One: Swann’s Way, volume II, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC, page 12
Professor [Charles Austin] Beard at least goes the whole hog, and being logical and intelligent, is prepared to draw the full consequences of his conception of security.
1938 February 11 (date written), Dorothy Thompson, “Our Dangerous Friends”, in Let the Record Speak, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Company […], published 1939, →OCLC, page 131
Synonyms: go all out, go ham, go the entire animal, pull out all the stops

Synonyms & antonyms

verbTo do something as completely or entirely as possible; to hold back or reserve nothing.

Also see

go ham go the entire animal go the entire swine

Origin

Origin uncertain; the following etymologies have been suggested: * A reference to using the whole of a hog’s carcass for food, leather, etc., without wasting any part; or specifically to a poem by the English poet William Cowper (1731–1800), “The Love of the World Reproved” (published 1782) in which uncertainty among Muslims about which parts of a hog are permitted as food leads to the whole animal being eaten. * A reference to hog (“(Ireland, New Zealand, UK, historical, slang) shilling; (US, obsolete, rare) ten-cent coin, dime”), possibly in the context of spending the entire sum of money.

Full word history & related roots →