Meanings
plural hog-peas
- An heirloom field pea or a native vining legume, grey-brown in color.
Thought this was Hog Pea at first but leaves are different and it had little itty bitty orange flowers. — Gloucester
2021, Tammy Newhouse Gill, Virginia Native Plant Society Group3 more examples
After many Years Experience, we Hertfordshire Farmers have found none to answer our Intereſt ſo well as the Horn-grey Hog-pea;, the Maple, the Blue, and the White. It is theſe four Sorts that we chiefly fow in our incloſed Fields, in Refuſal of all others
1744, Ellis, William, chapter VII, in The modern husbandman, or, The practice of farming / by William Ellis v.2, page 62we shall only state the names of those which amply repay the labour and expence of cultivation; namely, the Grey Hog-Pea
1802, Unattributed, Domestic Encyclopædia, Volume 3^(https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Domestic_Encyclop%C3%A6dia_(1802)/Pea)The grey or hog pea was the most common field pea in 18th century England. In one of the few references to field peas in 18th century Virginia, Jefferson wrote to George Washington in 1796, ” “I am trying the white boiling pea of Europe (the Albany) this year, till I can get the hog pea of England, which is the most productive of all.”
2008, Slack, Susan, “Farmer's Market Report: Dixie Lee Peas”, in Taste of CaliforniaSynonyms: black badger, carlin pea, grey peas, maple pea
Synonyms & antonyms
nounAn heirloom field pea or a native vining legume, grey-brown in color.
Cite this entry
hog-pea. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hog-pea
“hog-pea.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hog-pea. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “hog-pea,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hog-pea.
Source: hog-pea on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.