Hodge, n.
Forms:
Also ME Hogge, ME Hoge, 15 Hodg.(Show Less)
Etymology: Abbreviated and altered < Roger, like Hob < Robert, Hick < Richard.
1. A familiar by-form and abbreviation of the name Roger; used as a typical name for the English agricultural labourer or rustic.
c1386 Chaucer Cook's Prol. 12
Euer siþþe I highte hogge of ware.
[c1386 Chaucer Cook's Prol. 21
Oure host seyde I graunt it the, Now telle on, Roger.]
1483 Cath. Angl. 187/1
Hoge, Rogerus, nomen proprium.
1589 R. Greene Menaphon sig. F4v
These Arcadians are giuen to take the benefit of euerie Hodge.
1699 B. E. New Dict. Canting Crew
Hodge, a Country Clown, also Roger.
1794 J. Wolcot Wks. III. 350
No more shall Hodge's prong and shovel start.
1826 in W. Hone Every-day Bk.
(1827)
II. 1210
You seem to think that with the name I..retain all the characteristics..of a hodge.
1885 Observer 13 Dec. 5/3
The conduct of Hodge in the recent election.
c1386—1885(Hide quotations)
2. (See quots.) Cf. haggis n.
1879 G. F. Jackson Shropshire Word-bk.
Hodge, the large paunch in a pig.
1884 R. Holland Gloss. Words County of Chester
(1886)
Hodge, the stomach of a pig, cleaned out and eaten as tripe.
1879—1884(Hide quotations)
3. Jolly Hodge n. the pirate's flag bearing the Death's Head and Cross-bones; = Jolly Roger n.
1821 Scott Pirate III. xiii. 309
Up goes the Jolly Hodge, the old black flag, with the death's head and hour glass.
1821—1821(Hide quotations)
Compounds
Hodge-razor n. a razor made to sell to Hodge: see Peter Pindar's Wks. (1794) I. 151; hence, in Carlyle, anything made to sell; a sham.
1843 T. Carlyle Dr. Francia in Crit. & Misc. Ess.
(1872)
VII. 48
Hodge-razors, in all conceivable kinds, were openly marketed, ‘which were never meant to shave, but only to be sold!’
1843—1843(Hide quotations)