hang 
might serve for Just excuse, that these small things make 
as many steps to their end ... as greater. 
Donne, Letters, i. 
I am one of them who value not a Courtesy that hang* 
long betwixt the Fingers. Howell, Letters, I. v. 18. 
A noble stroke he lifted high, 
Which hung not. Miltiiu, I'. L., vl. 190. 
She thrice essay'd to speak ; her accents hung, 
And funlt'ring dy'd unflnish'd on her tongue. 
Dryden. 
9. To linger ; loiter. 
Leue of sone and fiyng noghte to hinge thare-appone. 
Hampole, Prose Treatises (E. E. T. 8.), p. 37. 
I waited for the train at Coventry ; 
I hung with grooms and porters on the bridge, 
To watch the three tall spires. Tennyson, Godiva. 
So on that eve about the church they hung, 
And through the open door heard fair things sung. 
William Morris, Earthly Paradise, II. 282. 
10. To slope; have a steep declivity: Chang- 
ing grounds. 
All these, and what the woods can yield, 
The hanging mountain or the field, 
I freely offer. Fletcher, Faithful Shepherdess, i. 1. 
11. To come to a standstill; fail to agree: as, 
the jury hung, and the man got a new trial. 
Bartlett, Americanisms. [U. S.] 12. To bal- 
ance: as, the gun /(m/s well Hanging bridge, (a) 
See bridge. (6) An inverted or suspended fire-bridge in a 
steam-boiler furnace. It is sometimes hollow and con- 
nected with the water-space of the boiler. Hanging 
buttress, cutter, gale, garden, sleeve, wall, etc. See 
the nouns. Hanging Bide. Same as hantring wall 
Shich see, under wall). Hang lagt, let the last man be 
anged ; devil take the hindmost. 
Culig. Fly, gentlemen, fly ! . . . have ye a mind to have 
your fidles 
Broke about your pates ? 
Fidler. Not we ! we thank ye. 
Colig. Bang lag, hang lag ! The Villain (1663). 
The goose hangs high. See goose. To hang back, to 
hesitate ; be reluctant to proceed. 
Mrs. Meyrick wanted to lead her to a seat, but, again 
hanging back gently, the poor weary thing spoke. 
Oeorge Eliot, Daniel Deronda, xviii. 
To hang by geometry!. See geometry. To hang by 
the eyelids, (ff) See ej/clid. (b) Naut., to be in a neg- 
lected or dilapidated condition, as a vessel whose rigging 
is uncared for, whose rope-ends are frayed, and on which 
everything is untidy. To hang in doubt, to be in a 
state of suspense or uncertainty. 
Thy life shall hang in doubt before thee, and thou shalt 
fear day and night, and shalt have none assurance of thy 
life. Deut. xxviii. 66. 
To hang in the balance, to be in doubt or suspense : as, 
his Itiehung in the balance. 
A Scepticke in Religion is one that hangs in the ballance 
with all sorts of opinions, whereof not one but stirreshim 
and none swayes him. 
Bp. Earle, Micro-cosmographie, A Scepticke in Religion. 
To hang Off. (a) To let go : the opposite of to hang on. 
Hang o/, thou cat, thou burr: vile thing, let loose; 
Or I will shake thee from me, like a serpent. 
Shak., M. N. D., Hi. 2. 
(b) To refuse or delay compliance; hang back; hold off. 
To hang on or upon. I. [On or upon, prep.] (a) To 
cling fondly to: as, to hang upon one's neek. (b) To weigh 
upon; oppress. 
Most heavenly music ! 
It nips me unto listening, and thick slumber 
Hangs upon mine eyes : let me rest. 
ShaJc., Pericles, v. 1. 
Though I have walked but four miles this morning, yet 
I begin to be weary ; yesterday's hunting hangg still upon 
me. /. Walton, Complete Angler, p. 65. 
Life hangs upon me and becomes a burden. 
Addition, Cato, iii. 1. 
(c) To depend or rest upon ; rely upon. 
On these two commandments hang all the law and the 
prophets. Mat. xxii. 40. 
How wretched 
Is that poor man that hangs on princes' favours ! 
Shak., Hen. VIII., iii. 2. 
Then thus I take my leave, kissing your hand, 
And hanging on your royal word. 
Beau, and FL, Philaster, v. 3. 
(d) To regard with close attention or passionate admira- 
tion. 
What though I be not so in grace as you, 
So hung upon with love, so fortunate ! 
Shak., M. N. D., iii. 2. 
He would, with decent superiority, look upon himself 
as orator before the throne of grace, for a crowd, who hang 
upon his words. Steele, Guardian, No. 65. 
II. [On, adv.] (a) To persist; be importunate; con- 
tinue tediously : as, office-seekers hang on to the last ; 
the lawsuit still ham/x on. (b) Want., to hold fast without 
belaying. To hang out, to lodge or reside : in allusion 
to the custom of hanging out a sign or "shingle" to indi- 
cate one's shop and business. [Slang.] 
" I say, old boy, where do you hang out ? " Mr. Pickwick 
replied that he was at present suspended at the George 
and Vulture. Dickens, Pickwick, xxx. 
I've found two rooms at Chelsea, not many hundred 
yards from my mother and sisters, and I shall soon be 
ready to hang out there. 
George Eliot, Daniel Derouda, xxxvii. 
2709 
To hang over, to project over, as the roof of a house. 
To hang together. () To hold together ; keep body 
and soul together ; be mutually sustaining. 
Mrs. Page. Is she [your wife] at home? 
ford. Ay ; and as idle as she may hang together, for 
want of company. Shak., M. W. of W., iii. 2. 
As poor as he can hang together. George Eliot. 
When Hancock, after the signing of the Declaration of 
Independence, urged upon the signers the necessity of 
union, saying, " We must all hang together," " Yes," said 
Franklin, " or we shall all hang separately." 
J. S. Hart, Rhetoric, p. 204. 
(6) To be consistent in details ; agree in all parts : as, the 
story does not hang together. 
Mark how well the sequel hangs together. 
Shak., Rich. III., iii. 6. 
hang (hang), n. [= G. hang, declivity, slope, in- 
clination, propensity, = Dan. hang, bent, bias, 
inclination ; from the verb.] 1 . A slope or de- 
clivity ; degree of slope or inclination : as, the 
hang of a roof or a terrace. 2. The way in 
which a thing hangs : as, the hang of a skirt or 
of a curtain. 3. In ship-building, the curva- 
ture of a plank concave on its lower edge when 
bent to the frame of a ship. If the curve is 
convex on the lower edge, it is called sny. 4. 
Naut., same as rake. 5. A clump of weeds 
hanging together. Davies. [Eng.] 
It might be a hassock of rushes ; a tuft of the great 
water-dock ; a dead dog ; one of the hangs with which the 
club-water was studded, torn up and stranded. 
Kingsley, Two Years Ago, xxv. 
6. A crop of fruit. [Prov. Eng.] 7. General 
bent or tendency: as, the hang of a discourse. 
8. The mode in which one thing is connected 
with another, or in which one part of a thing is 
connected with another part: as, the hang of 
a scythe. 9. The precise manner of doing or 
using something: as, to get the hang of a new 
implement; to lose the hung of it. [Colloq.] 
Beset as he has been on all sides, he could not refrain 
[from writing], and would only imprecate patience till he 
shall again have got the hang (as he calls it) of an ac- 
complishment long disused. 
Lowell, Biglow Papers, 2d ser., p. 6. 
There's something we haven't got the hang of. 
S. 0. Jewett, Deephaven, p. 173. 
hangable (hang'a-bl), a. [< hang, v., + -able.] 
1. Capable of being or liable to be hanged. 
By Acts of Parliament and Statutes made in the reign 
of Henry VIII. and his two daughters, all those people 
calling themselves Bohemians or Egyptians are hangable 
as felons at the age of 14 years. 
Misson, Travels in England (trans.), p. 122. 
2. Involving hanging as a punishment: as, a 
hangable offense. 
hangbird (hang'b6rd), . 1. An American 
oriole of the family Icterido? and subfamily 
Icterinm: so called from its pensile purse-like 
nest. The Baltimore oriole, Icterus galbula, and the 
orchard oriole, /. spuriun, are the best-known hangbirds. 
Also called hangneit and hanging-bird. See cut under 
oriole. 
The hang-bird sang his ditty o'er and o'er. 
Bryant, October, 1866. 
2. Some other bird which builds a hanging 
nest. 
hangbyt (hang'bi), n. A dependent ; a hanger- 
on : so called in contempt. 
Enter none but the ladies and their hangbyes; 
Welcome beauties and your kind shadow. 
B. Jonson, Cynthia's Revels, v. 2. 
hang-choice (hang'chois), . The position of 
a person who is compelled to choose between 
two evils. [Scotch.] 
I hope St. Patrick sung better than Blattergowl's pre- 
centor, or it would be hang-choice between the poet and 
the psalmist. Scott, Antiquary, xxx. 
hangdog (hang'dog), n. and a. [< hang, v., + 
obj. dog.] I. n. A degraded and sneaking fel- 
low, fit only to be a hangman of dogs. Con- 
greve. 
II. a. Of or pertaining to such a person; hav- 
ing a base or sneaking appearance : as, a hang- 
dog look or gait. 
hanger (hang'er), n. [(= G. hanger and hanger 
= Dan. hanger, cable-end, pendant) ; < hang + 
-w 1 .] 1. One who hangs anything; one whose 
occupation is to hang something: as, a bell- 
hanger; a p&per-hanger. 2. One who hangs 
persons, or inflicts the penalty of hanging; a 
hangman. 
He [Sir Miles Fleetwood] was a very severe hanger of 
highwaymen. Aubrey, Anecdotes, II. 351. 
3. That which hangs or is suspended ; specifi- 
cally, a hanging or sloping wood or grove. 
The high part to the south-west ... is divided into 
a shetp down, the high wood, and a long hanging wood, 
called the Hanger. 
. 
Gilbert White, Nat. Hist, of Selborne, i. 
hanging 
The young larches among the hillside hangers are revel- 
ling in the exquisite and tender freshness of verdure which 
larches alone can exhibit. 
G. Allen, Colin Clout's Calendar, p. 13. 
4. A short cut-and-thrust sword, especially one 
worn by seamen and travelers. 
I clothed myself in my best apparel, girded on my 
hanger, stuck my pistols loaded in my belt. 
Smollett, Roderick Random. 
5. That from which something is hung or sus- 
pended. 
On pulling the hanger of a bell, the great door opened. 
Brooke, Fool of Quality, II. 225. 
Specifically (o) A support for a line of shafting, consisting 
of a box for holding the shafting, an oiling device, etc., 
and supported by a bracket, by aims fixed to the ceiling, 
or on legs which rest on the floor. The term includes the 
whole apparatus, supports and all, whatever their shape. 
(b) The lower part of the heddle of a loom, (c) A chain 
or bent rod on which a pot or kettle is hung in the open 
fireplace of old-fashioned kitchens, by means of the pot- 
hook : hence used humorously in the phrase pothooks and 
hangers, the characters made by children in their first at- 
tempts to write. 
To hang as the pots doe uppon their hangers. 
Withals, Diet. (ed. 1608X p. 186. 
As most of the council were but little skilled in the 
mystery of combining pot-hooks and hangers, they de- 
termined most judiciously not to puzzle either themselves 
or posterity with voluminous records. 
Irving, Knickerbocker, p. 136. 
Hanger stood for the stroke with a double curve, as in 
the last part of m and n, as well as in K. P. D. E.'s p's and 
h's. N. and Q., 7th ser., IV. S18. 
(</) The arrangement of straps by which, in the sixteenth 
and seventeenth centuries, the rapier was hung from the 
belt : an appendage often made elaborate and ornamental. 
Six French rapiers and poignards, with their assigns, as 
girdle, hangers, and so. Shak., Hamlet, v. 2. 
Mens swords in hangers hang fast by their side, 
Their stirrops hang when as they use to ride. 
John Taylor, Works (1630), ii. 133. 
(e) In tailoring, the loop or strap by which a coat or other 
garment is hung on a peg. 
6. In lace-making, one of those bobbins which 
lie straight down the cushion, as distinguished 
from the worker-bobbins, which are moved from 
side to side. Diet, of Needlework. 7. The great 
seaweed, Laminaria digitata. The stem is woody, 
from 2 to 6 feet in length and from half an inch to nearly 
2 inches in diameter. The frond is 6 or 8 feet in length 
and 2 feet broad, and olivaceous brown in color. When 
young the stems are sometimes eaten. It was once largely 
used in the manufacture of glass, supplying the alkali, hut 
has now been superseded. It is also used for making han- 
dles for knives, for fuel, and for manure by the Highland- 
ers. Also called tangle, sea-girdle, sea-sta/, and sea-wand. 
See Laminaria. [Eng.] Ball-and-socket hanger. See 
balli. Expanding hanger, a support for a steam-radia- 
tor so arranged as to allow the radiator to move when ex- 
panded by heat. Pothooks and hangers. See def. 5(c). 
hanger-board (hang'er-bord), n. A board for 
supporting electric are-lamps, by means of 
which easy connection is made between the 
poles of the lamp and the line-circuit. 
Electrical connection between the conducting-wires 
and lamps must be made through a suitable hanger-board. 
Elect. Rev. (Amer.), XII. 8. 
hanger-on (hang'er -on'), n. ; pi. hangers-on 
(-erz-on'). 1. One who hangs upon a person, 
company, etc. ; one who clings to the society of 
others longer than he is wanted ; a dependent ; 
a parasite. 
Grief is an impudent guest, 
A follower every where, a hanger^m 
That words nor blows can drive away. 
Fletcher (and another\ Queen of Corinth, iii. 2. 
He wanted to be a guide and hanger-on, and I had a 
young and healthy horror of all such impedimenta. 
Harper's Mag., LXXVIII. 78. 
2. In coal-mining, the man who runs the cars 
or trams on to the cages and gives the signal 
to hoist. [Eng.] 
hanging (hang'ing), n. and a. [< ME. hang- 
ynge; verbal n. of hang, v."] I. n. 1. The act 
of suspending, or the state of being suspended. 
Specifically 2. Suspension by the neck; par- 
ticularly, capital punishment by suspension 
with strangulation, by means of a rope with 
a noose at one end which is placed about the 
neck, the other end being attached to a beam. 
Stand fast, good fate, to his hanging .' . . . If he be not 
born to be hanged, our case is miserable. 
Shak., Tempest, i. 1. 
3. That which hangs or is pendent. Specifically 
(a) A piece of textile fabric, such as tapestry, used to 
cover in part the wall of a room, or as a curtain at a door 
or window. 
My poor wife hath been . . . fitting the new hangings 
of our bed-chamber of blue, and putting the old red ones 
into my dressing-room. Pepys, Diary, II. 347. 
Don't look with that violent and inflexible wise Face, 
like Solomon at the dividing of the Child in an old Tap- 
estry Hanging. Congreve, Way of the World, ii. 5. 
(b) pi. The material with which the walls of a room are 
draped or covered, including even paper which is pasted 
upon them, as in the term paper-hangings. See arms', 
tapestry, and curtain. 
