pigstickern.
/ˈpɪɡˌstɪkə/, U.S. /ˈpɪɡˌstɪkər/ 1.
a. A person who participates in the sport or practice of pig-sticking.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > hunting > hunter > hunter of specific animal > [noun] > of pigs
first-spear1837
pig hunter1837
spear1849
pigsticker1866
1864 ‘Citizen-Soldier’ Red-tape & Pigeon-hole Generals xx. 299 Their service appeared like their equipment, ornamental rather than useful, and in connexion with their foraging reputation, won for them the expressive designation of ‘Pig Stickers’.]
1866 G. O. Trevelyan in Fraser's Mag. 73 387 I may be a young pig-sticker, but I am too old a sports~man to make such a mistake as that.
1889 Athenæum 24 Aug. 255/1 The courage, horsemanship, and skill with his spear required in the pigsticker.
1943 G. Greene Ministry of Fear i. v. 72 The memoirs of obscure pig-stickers.
2004 Daily Tel. (Nexis) 18 Sept. 9 Every meadow..across Britain used to be dotted with redblooded pig-stickers, mole-stranglers..and bird-limers.
b. A horse trained to be ridden for pig-sticking (pig-sticking n. 2).
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > family Equidae (general equines) > horse defined by purpose used for > [noun] > used in hunting > for hunting particular type animal
stag-hunter1709
runner1810
pigsticker1900
1900 J. Fayrer Recoll. iii. 62 I bought a horse, a well-known pig-sticker.
1928 Hoghunters Ann. 1 38 One of the best pigstickers the writer ever knew was a high quality chestnut Kathiawari.
1980 K. Boyle Fifty Stories 190 He was a pigsticker, he said, with the strong loins, and thighs, and hocks of a pigsticker.
2. colloquial. A sharp implement or weapon, as a lance, bayonet, knife, etc.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > sharp weapon > [noun] > pointed weapon
ordeOE
point?c1425
pickle1550
stabber1581
prog1615
pigsticker1867
1867 Times 9 Mar. 10/1 A cheap weapon of homely appearance, which has been dignified by the title of a Fenian dirk, but is better known among the people as a pig-sticker.
1890 A. Barrère & C. G. Leland Dict. Slang II. 129/1 Pigsticker (army), sabre.
1918 C. J. Swan My Company viii. 129 All this time the steel pigsticker was resting on his rotund stomach with the rifle behind it cocked.
1993 W. Baldwin Hard to catch Mercy x. 318 Wonder how many noble Southern boys he ran through with this pigsticker before Grandpa put an end to his bloody work?
3. colloquial and regional. A slaughterman; a pork butcher.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > death > killing > killer of animals > [noun] > by specific method
sticker1835
pigsticker1872
shochet1889
1872 Times 19 Dec. 9/4 The wounds were inflicted with an ordinary pig-sticker's knife.
1885 Morning Oregonian (Portland, Oregon) 8 Apr. Beginning life as a miner..he rose to be a pig-sticker in Chicago.
1939 F. Thompson Lark Rise i. 12 The travelling pork butcher, or pig-sticker.
1989 Independent (Nexis) 15 June 16 A character like the emotionally retarded pig-sticker Graham seems just a schematic convenience.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1866