Meanings
comparative higher on the hog · superlative highest on the hog · alternative high off the hog
- USidiomaticWell off; living comfortably or extravagantly due to great wealth or financial security.
Ever since his promotion, they’ve been living high on the hog.
4 more examples
With all the tenderloin, spareribs and backbones, we lived “high off the hog”.
1912, George S. Jack, Edward Boyle Jacobs, History of Roanoke County,, page 29Down our way there is a favorite expression used quite often—“eating high on the hog”. That is what our competitors have been doing…
1927, Allegheny Regional Advisory Board, Proceedings of the regular meeting,, page 21The synthetic belle wins the prize and her creators are eating high off the hog until the nation’s Press demands a look at the original.
1934, Time, Volume 24, p. 68If she was pulling this scam off all that time, I think she'd be living a little higher on the hog, don't you?
2006, Julia Spencer-Fleming, All Mortal Flesh: A Clare Fergusson and Russ Van Alstyne Mystery
Origin
An allusion to the best and costliest cuts of meat from a hog, considered to be parts above the belly such as the loin, rather than lower parts such as the feet, knuckles, hocks, belly, and jowls. US, late 1800s; popularized 1940s. The variant forms – live/eat and on/off – are attested since at least the 1930s. However, decades earlier is the phrase on the hog, originally on the hog train meaning someone living on little expense.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
high on the hog. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/high%20on%20the%20hog
“high on the hog.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/high%20on%20the%20hog. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “high on the hog,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/high%20on%20the%20hog.
Source: high on the hog on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.