hogleg

H4O1G2L1E1G2

noun

Any large-caliber handgun, typically with a long barrel.

Scrabble 11
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Meanings

nounhogleg (plural hoglegs)

plural hoglegs · alternative hog's leg

  1. USslangAny large-caliber handgun, typically with a long barrel.

    The stranger glanced at the hog leg that pulled Elmer's belt down and smiled with unwise condescension.

    1950, Dorothy M. Johnson, Prairie Kid; in Indian Country, London: Corgi, 1961, page 51
    2 more examples

    A plain-clothes man with his coat off and his hog's leg looking like a fire plug against his ribs took one eye off his evening paper […].

    1940, Raymond Chandler, Farewell, My Lovely, Penguin, published 2010, page 228

    Well I been a-ridin' shotgun on the Houston-Dallas stage / I got me a sawed-off hogleg, twenty is the number gauge / I'd shoot anybody, that would try to stop this ride / A lot of outlaws tried it, a lot of outlaws died.

    1975, Marty Robbins, Shotgun Rider

Origin

From hog + leg.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

hogleg. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hogleg

MLA

“hogleg.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hogleg. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “hogleg,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hogleg.

Source: hogleg on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.