Tudor & Stuart · insult · noun
Hog-grubber
HOG-grub-erpronunciation reconstructed — no period source gives it
First recordedby 1623
A mean, stingy, sneaking person; a close-fisted miser. B.E. (c. 1698) calls one 'a close-fisted, narrow-soul'd sneaking Fellow'.
Where it was first recorded
John Webster, The Devil's Law-Case, 1623, per Green's Dictionary of Slang.
Also spelled: hog grubber, hoggrubber, hog-grunter
In its own time
HOG GRUBBER. A mean stingy fellow.
Today
Modern exampleThe old hog-grubber split the restaurant bill down to the last penny, then skipped the tip.
Fine to use as a colourful jab at a skinflint.
Questions
What does hog-grubber mean?
A mean, stingy, sneaking person; a close-fisted miser. B.E. (c. 1698) calls one 'a close-fisted, narrow-soul'd sneaking Fellow'.
When was hog-grubber first used?
It is first recorded by 1623 — John Webster, The Devil's Law-Case, 1623, per Green's Dictionary of Slang.
Can you still use hog-grubber today?
Fine to use as a colourful jab at a skinflint.
Sources
- hog, n. (sense 2a and sub-entry hog-grubber) — Green's Dictionary of Slang
- A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, Francis Grose, 1st edition (London: S. Hooper, 1785) — Internet Archive (scan + OCR)
- A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue (1811 edition, 'Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue'), Francis Grose — Project Gutenberg eBook #5402
Checked 2026-09-30 · verdict: rare — genuine, but marked rare, obsolete or archaic, or seldom recorded, in the dictionaries listed above