Meaning
Fend for yourself and work for what you need, or face failure. Obscure, severe, and strongly historical Regional use: United States, especially rural, frontier, Southern, and Western contexts.
Origin
An early American proverb built on the practice of turning hogs loose to forage: the animal had to root for food or starve. An Ohio newspaper called it a proverb in 1829, and Davy Crockett used it as an old saying in his 1834 autobiography. The line later entered songs and political rhetoric, but those uses popularised rather than created it.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- root hog or die
- root, hog, or - die
Usage Examples
- There was no relief fund on the frontier; it was root, hog, or die.
- The new owner gave each branch one season to survive: root, hog, or die.