Bacon, the back and sides of a pig, cured or preserved for eating by salting and drying. The mode of curing will be described under HAMS; and their properties as articles of food, under PORK. The word has come into English through the medium of French, from an old Teutonic root (seen in old Dutch baken, 'bacon'), from which also is descended the word back.
Bacon
Chambers's Encyclopaedia, Volume 1: A to Beaufort, p. 645
Source scan(s): p. 0672