a pig in a poke
Preserved but no longer current.
A blind bargain. The refer- ence is to a common trick in days gone by of trying to palm off on a greenhorn a cat for a sucking-pig. If he opened the poke or sack he "let the cat out of the bag,'* and the trick was disclosed. The French chat en poche (from which the saying may have come) refers to the fact, while our proverb regards the trick. Pocket is diminutive of poke.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “a pig in a poke” mean?
A blind bargain. The refer- ence is to a common trick in days gone by of trying to palm off on a greenhorn a cat for a sucking-pig. If he opened the poke or sack he "let the cat out of the bag,'* and the trick was disclosed. The French chat en poche (from which the saying may have come) refers to the fact, while our proverb regards the trick. Pocket is diminutive of poke.
Is “a pig in a poke” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.