Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To fasten from above with no support from below; suspend.
  • intransitive verb To suspend or fasten so as to allow free movement at or about the point of suspension.
  • intransitive verb To execute by hanging.
  • intransitive verb Used to express exasperation or disgust.
  • intransitive verb To alter the hem of (a garment) so as to fall evenly at a specified height.
  • intransitive verb To furnish, decorate, or appoint by suspending objects around or about.
  • intransitive verb To hold or incline downward; let droop.
  • intransitive verb Informal To make (a turn in a specific direction).
  • intransitive verb To attach to a wall.
  • intransitive verb To display by attaching to a wall or other structure.
  • intransitive verb Informal To give (a nickname or label) to someone.
  • intransitive verb To deadlock (a jury) by failing to render a unanimous verdict.
  • intransitive verb Baseball To throw (a pitch) in such a manner as to fail to break.
  • intransitive verb Computers To cause (a computer system) to halt so that input devices, such as the keyboard or the mouse, do not function.
  • intransitive verb To be attached from above with no support from below.
  • intransitive verb To die as a result of hanging.
  • intransitive verb To remain suspended or poised over a place or an object; hover.
  • intransitive verb To attach oneself as a dependent or an impediment; cling.
  • intransitive verb To incline downward; droop.
  • intransitive verb To depend.
  • intransitive verb To pay strict attention.
  • intransitive verb To remain unresolved or uncertain.
  • intransitive verb To fit the body in loose lines.
  • intransitive verb To be on display, as in a gallery.
  • intransitive verb Baseball To fail to break or move in the intended way, as a curve ball.
  • intransitive verb To be imminent; loom.
  • intransitive verb To be or become burdensome.
  • intransitive verb Computers To be halted, as a computer system, so that input devices do not function.
  • intransitive verb To spend one's free time in a certain place. Often used with around or out:
  • intransitive verb To pass time idly; loiter. Often used with around or out:
  • intransitive verb To keep company; see socially. Often used with around or out:
  • noun The way in which something hangs.
  • noun A downward inclination or slope.
  • noun Particular meaning or significance.
  • noun Informal The proper method for doing, using, or handling something.
  • noun A suspension of motion; a slackening.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English hongen, from Old English hangian, to be suspended, and from hōn, to hang; see konk- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From hang sangwich, Irish colloquial pronunciation of ham sandwich.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

A fusion of Old English hōn ("to hang, be hanging") [intrans.] and hangian ("to hang, cause to hang") [trans.]; also probably influenced by Old Norse hengja ("suspend") and hanga ("be suspended"); all from Proto-Germanic *hanhanan, from Proto-Indo-European *keng- (“to waver, be in suspense”) (compare Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌷𐌰𐌽 (hāhan), Hittite gang- ("to hang"), Sanskrit sankate ("wavers"), Latin cunctari ("to delay")) and Albanian çengë ("a hook").

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Examples

  • "No, papa; not hang them -- but _hang on_ to them!"

    The Lincoln Story Book Henry Llewellyn Williams

  • Elaina let the word hang there without adding the rest.

    Unspeakable Laura Griffin 2010

  • He let the word hang in the air for a moment, waiting for the dead flesh and old hides to cover it and give it form.

    The Whisperers John Connolly 2010

  • He let the word hang in the air for a moment, waiting for the dead flesh and old hides to cover it and give it form.

    The Whisperers John Connolly 2010

  • Elaina let the word hang there without adding the rest.

    Unspeakable Laura Griffin 2010

  • “The aim of philosophy,” he wrote, “is to understand how things in the broadest possible sense of the term hang together in the broadest possible sense of the term” (PSIM, 37).

    Wilfrid Sellars Rosenberg, Jay 2009

  • If philosophy is the attempt “to understand how things in the broadest possible sense of the term hang together in the broadest possible sense of the term”, as Sellars (1962) put it, philosophy should not ignore technology.

    Philosophy of Technology Franssen, Maarten 2009

  • It is hard to under-emphasize how deeply this picture of how we come to understand the world has rooted itself in European and North American culture and it has encouraged us all, since birth, to think almost exclusively that the appropriate way to proceed in all human endeavours is to "understand how things in the broadest possible sense of the term hang together in the broadest possible sense of the term" (ibid p. 235).

    UUpdates - All updates 2010

  • “Jilly’s got a tat,” Jamal said, letting the word hang in the air.

    Foul Lines Jack McCallum 2006

  • “Jilly’s got a tat,” Jamal said, letting the word hang in the air.

    Foul Lines Jack McCallum 2006

Comments

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  • In chess, giving up a piece for nothing.

    February 21, 2007

  • She's got the hang of it, for instance

    November 17, 2008

  • hang of it

    September 8, 2010