pigskin

Compound of pig +‎ skin. The American football is a direct descendant of the ball used in the game of rugby. The rugby ball originally was made of a pig’s bladder with a leather cover; the earliest versions of the leather exterior sometimes were made of pigskin.

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pigskin (plural pigskins)

1. The skin of a pig.
   • 2009, Zushe Yosef Blech, Kosher Food Production, page 318:

     In addition, most gelatins made today are produced from pigskins, which are not subject to this consideration.

2. Leather made from the skin of a pig.

   Synonym: hoghide

   • 2016, Robert Maddock, The 1,300 Years’ War: Volume One:

     Those killed fighting his troops would be buried in pigskins.

3. (US, slang) A football.
   • 2011, J. H. Holland, Dsi: Diddly Squat Investigation, page 35:

     “We gotta find those pigskins!” Squat insisted. “Pigskins?” Diddly asked. With obvious disdain, Squat replied, “Yeah, you know, that is what they call footballs, dummy.”

• skin

• Apple #356, The Football's Shape, http://dailyapple.blogspot.com/

• spiking