sewer hog

sewer hog

1. slang Anyone forced or employed to dig trenches or ditches. Prisoners in that area were forced to work as sewer hogs until about 1945, having dug drainage ditches alongside the highway from one end of the state to the other. My father wasn't very proud of having to work as a sewer hog, but it put food on our table as kids, and none of us ever cared more than that.

2. One of a breed of wild pigs rumored in urban legend to inhabit the sewers of Hampstead, London. My brother always told me scary stories about the sewer hogs to keep me away from open manhole covers.

See also: hog, sewer

Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

sewer hog

n. a ditch digger; a sewer worker. A sewer hog doesn’t get a lot of chances to pal around with the gentry, but the pay’s plenty good.

See also: hog, sewer

McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions Copyright © 2006 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.