# hang

Pronunciation: say "HANG" /hæŋ/

## Verb

1. To be suspended or remain held up from a support.
   - Simple: To stay held up in the air, fixed at the top and falling downward.
   - _Heavy curtains hang from the brass rod across the window._
   - _A single bulb hung from the ceiling on a frayed cord._
2. To loiter or pass time idly, usually in a relaxed, unhurried way. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: To spend time somewhere without doing much, often with friends.
   - _They hang downtown most weekends with nothing planned._
   - _He hung near the entrance, waiting for the doors to open._
3. To attach something so that it is held up from above, as on a hook, hanger, or hinges, including putting pictures or artwork on a wall for display.
   - Simple: To put something on a hook, wall, or hanger so it hangs there, such as a picture or coat.
   - _Workers hang the heavy doors on their hinges once the frames are set._
   - _He hung the lantern from a beam in the barn._
4. To kill someone, or be killed, by suspending them by the neck with a rope, usually as a form of execution or suicide.
   - Simple: To kill someone, or be killed, by hanging from a rope tied around the neck.
   - _The court ordered that they hang the convicted traitor._
   - _Authorities hanged the prisoner before a large crowd._
5. To hold or let droop in a lowered or inclined position rather than upright.
   - Simple: To let part of your body droop down instead of holding it up straight.
   - _She hung her head, unable to meet their eyes._
   - _The scolded boy would hang his head whenever questioned._
6. To float or appear suspended in the air.
   - Simple: To seem to float and stay still in the air.
   - _Storm clouds hang low above the hills before the rain._
   - _Dust hung in the bright shaft of sunlight._
8. Of a computer or program, to stop responding to input; also, to cause a computer or program to freeze in this way.
   - Simple: When a computer or program hangs, it stops working and won't respond.
   - _Older machines hang whenever the memory fills up completely._
   - _The application hung for several minutes before crashing._
9. Of a memory, words, or the like, to linger stubbornly in someone's mind.
   - Simple: To stay in your mind and not go away.
   - _Those last words hang in my memory even now._
   - _Her parting remark hung in his mind for the rest of the day._
10. To prevent a group, especially a jury required to be unanimous, from reaching a decision by refusing to agree.
   - Simple: To stop a group from reaching an agreement, often a jury that must all agree.
   - _One holdout juror can hang the jury and force a mistrial._
   - _His insistence on acquittal hung the jury after a week of deliberation._
12. To decorate something by adorning it with hanging objects.
   - Simple: To decorate a place by putting hanging things on it.
   - _Each year they hang the doorway with garlands of holly._
   - _Villagers hung the square with lanterns for the festival._
13. To fix wallpaper or sheets of drywall onto a wall or ceiling.
   - Simple: To fix wallpaper or drywall onto a wall or ceiling.
   - _The crew will hang drywall across the whole ceiling this week._
   - _She hung patterned wallpaper in the dining room over the weekend._
15. To damn or curse, used as an expression of anger or annoyance toward something. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: Used to show you are annoyed, or to say that something does not matter to you.
   - _Hang the consequences, I'm telling them the truth._
   - _She looked at the long line for the bus and said, "Oh, hang it, let's just take a taxi."_
18. To attach or fix a charge or accusation onto someone so it sticks.
   - Simple: To blame someone for a crime or wrong by making it stick to them.
   - _Prosecutors could not hang the fraud on the company's owner._
   - _The police tried to hang the robbery on her brother, but he had a solid alibi._
20. To turn or veer in a particular direction, especially in the informal phrases hang a right and hang a left.
   - Simple: To turn to one side, as in the phrase hang a left at the corner.
   - _If you reach the bridge, you have gone too far, so hang a right just before the gas station._
   - _The driver hung a sharp left onto a gravel road that was not on any map._
21. In baseball, to throw an off-speed pitch that fails to break properly, leaving it easy to hit. *(slang)*
   - Simple: To throw a slow pitch that is easy for the batter to hit.
   - _He hung a changeup over the plate and gave up a home run._
   - _Relievers who hang breaking balls rarely last long in the majors._
22. In chess, to leave a piece undefended so the opponent can capture it; of a piece, to be left undefended in this way.
   - Simple: In chess, to leave a piece where the other player can take it for free.
   - _She hung her rook with a careless move and resigned soon after._
   - _Beginners often hang pieces by ignoring their opponent's threats._

## Noun

7. A working knack or grasp of how to do something. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: The skill or knack of doing something once you practice it.
   - _After a few tries, she finally got the hang of parallel parking._
   - _He never quite got the hang of speaking in public._
11. A casual get-together for relaxing and spending time with others, or a place where people gather to do this. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: A relaxed time spent with friends, or a place where friends meet to spend time together.
   - _The rooftop bar became their regular hang during the summer._
   - _She suggested a new hang where the whole group could meet._
14. An occasion on which a program or computer stops responding to input.
   - Simple: A moment when a computer or program stops responding.
   - _The update introduced a hang that froze the app on startup._
   - _Testers reported a brief hang whenever the database was queried._
16. The smallest measure of concern or interest, used in negative phrases to mean none at all. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: The smallest bit of care, used to say you do not care at all.
   - _Frankly, I don't give a hang whether they approve or not._
   - _He never cared a hang for fashion or what others wore._
17. Someone a person regularly spends casual time with; a companion. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: A friend that someone spends free time with.
   - _Her new coworker turned out to be a really fun hang, and now they grab lunch together most Fridays._
   - _He is quiet at first, but once you get to know him he is a great hang on a long road trip._
19. The manner in which something, especially fabric, falls or drapes.
   - Simple: The way cloth or clothing falls and folds when it is hung up.
   - _The tailor checked the hang of the jacket across the shoulders._
   - _These heavy drapes have a beautiful, even hang._

## Other meanings

- (noun) A quantity of material that hangs down in a mass.
- (verb) Of a ball, to rebound unexpectedly or unusually slowly because of backspin or imperfections in the ground.
- (noun) A brief slackening or pause in motion.
- (noun) A sharp or steep downward slope of ground.
- (noun) In Irish English, cheap processed ham of the kind used in sandwiches, from an informal way of saying ham.
- (noun) A variant spelling of Hang, the steel percussion instrument played by hand and shaped like a flying saucer.

## Origin

**Meanings 1–15, 17–22** — From Middle English hangen, hongen, which fused Old English hon (transitive) and hangian (intransitive), from Proto-West Germanic *hą̄han and *hangēn. It was probably also influenced by Old Norse hengja and hanga, all going back to Proto-Germanic *hanhaną and ultimately Proto-Indo-European *ḱenk- ("to waver, be in suspense").
**Meaning 16** — An alteration of "dang," itself a minced oath of "damn."

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/hang (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).