Pig-in-a-poke
noun
1.
something not adequately appraised or of undetermined value, as an offering or purchase.
Related Terms
buy a pig in a poke
An object offered in a manner that conceals its true value, especially its lack of value. For example, Eric believes that buying a used car is buying a pig in a poke . This expression alludes to the practice of substituting a worthless object, such as a cat, for the costly suckling pig a customer has bought and wrapping it in a poke , or sack. It dates from a time when buyers of groceries relied on a weekly farmers’ market and, unless they were cautious enough to check the poke’s contents, would not discover the skullduggery until they got home. The word poke dates from the 13th century but is now used mainly in the southern United States. The idiom was first recorded in John Heywood’s 1562 collection of proverbs. Also see let the cat out of the bag
Read Also:
- Pig in the middle
noun See monkey in the middle
- Pig-iron
noun 1. iron tapped from a blast furnace and cast into pigs in preparation for conversion into steel, cast iron, or wrought iron. 2. iron in the chemical state in which it exists when tapped from the blast furnace, without alloying or refinement. noun 1. crude iron produced in a blast furnace and poured into […]
- Pig island
noun 1. (NZ, informal) New Zealand
- Pig islander
noun 1. (NZ, informal) a New Zealander
- Pig-jump
verb 1. (intransitive) (of a horse) to jump from all four legs