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Pig

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In the forefeet of pigs is a very small hole, which may be seen when the hair has been carefully removed. The tradition is that the legion of devils entered by these apertures. There are also round it some six rings, the whole together not larger than a small spangle; they look as if burnt or branded into the skin, and the tradition is that they are the marks of the devil’s claws when he entered the swine (Mark v. 11–15). (See Christian Traditions.)

Riding on a pig. It was Jane, afterwards Duchess of Gordon, who, in 1770, undertook for a wager to ride down the High Street of Edinburgh, in broad day-light, on the back of a pig, and she won her bet.

Some men there are love not a gaping pig (Merchant of Venice, iv. 1). Marshal dʹAlbert always fainted at the sight of a roast sucking pig. (See Antipathy, Cat.)

The same is said of Vaugheim, the renowned Hanoverian huntsman. Keller used to faint at the sight of smoked bacon.

 

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

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Pied de la Lettre (Au)
Pied Piper of Hamelin
Pierre
Pierrot [peer-ro]
Piers
Piers Plowman
Pieta
Pietists
Pietro
Pig (The)
Pig
Pig-back, Picka-back
Pig-eyes
Pig Hunt (A)
Pig-iron
Pig and Tinderbox
Pig and Whistle
Pig in a Poke (A)
Pigs
Pigskin (A)
Pigtails (The)