november llth
Preserved but no longer current.
His Martinmas will come, as it does to every hog — Le. all must die. Novem- ber was the great slaughtering time of the Anglo-Saxons, when oxen, sheep, and hogs, whose food was exhausted, were killed and salted. Thus the proverb intimates that our day of death will come as surely as that of a hog at St. Martm's-tide.
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 “november llth” mean?
His Martinmas will come, as it does to every hog — Le. all must die. Novem- ber was the great slaughtering time of the Anglo-Saxons, when oxen, sheep, and hogs, whose food was exhausted, were killed and salted. Thus the proverb intimates that our day of death will come as surely as that of a hog at St. Martm's-tide.
Is “november llth” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.