Word.ws English Dictionary

couldn't stop a pig in a passage

couldn't stop a pig in a passage verb: to be bow-legged.

Verb

couldn't stop a pig in a passage

  1. (Yorkshire, idiomatic) To be bow-legged.
    • Joe laughed. ‘Aye, I know I'm a funny little feller. I couldn't stop a pig in a passage, could I lass? But I'm good at me job, else Eddie wouldn't have asked me to come and look at that there roof.’2004, Margaret Dickinson, chapter 15, in Red Sky in the Morning
    • I remember seeing old ladies with incredible bowlegs caused by rickets. Unkind folks would remark ‘They couldn't stop a pig in a passage’.2008, Wilf’ Lunn, My Best Cellar, page 112

Questions about couldn't stop a pig in a passage

What does couldn't stop a pig in a passage mean?
Couldn't stop a pig in a passage means to be bow-legged.
What part of speech is couldn't stop a pig in a passage?
Couldn't stop a pig in a passage is a verb.

Words near couldn't stop a pig in a passage in the dictionary

  1. couldn't pour water out of a boot with the instructions on the heel
  2. couldn't run a bath
  3. couldn't seem
  4. couldn't stand
  5. couldn't stand the sight of
  6. couldn't stop a pig in a passage
  7. couldn't wait
  8. couldn't've
  9. couldn't-care-less
  10. couldn've
  11. couldna

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: couldn't stop a pig in a passage (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-couldn't stop a pig in a passage.ogg.

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