be living high on the hog

To be prospering or otherwise living very well. It refers to the rich being able to afford the choicest cut of meat, which, from a pig, is higher up on the animal. They've been living high on the hog ever since David won the lottery. It must be a shock for them to count their pennies like this—they were living high on the hog for a long time, after all.

If someone is living high on the hog, they have a good life, with plenty of money. Note: A hog is a pig. He and Austen were living high on the hog in a flat with three servants. From the looks of his home he lived alone and probably not very high on the hog. Note: You can also say that someone is living high off the hog. Far from living high off the hog, the Chancellor had insisted on travelling business class, not first class, wherever possible. Note: This expression comes from the fact that the most expensive and tender cuts of meat on a pig are high up on its body.