hang

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   the way a garment hangs

   They adjusted the hang of their coat.

2. 2
   verb

   suspend (meat) in order to get a gamey taste

   hang the venison for a few days

3. 3
   verb

   hold on tightly or tenaciously

   hang on to your father's hands

4. 4
   verb

   place in position as by a hinge so as to allow free movement in one direction

   hang a door

5. 5
   verb

   be placed in position as by a hinge

   This cabinet door doesn't hang right!

6. 6
   verb

   fall or flow in a certain way

   This dress hangs well

7. 7
   verb

   kill by hanging

   The murderer was hanged on Friday

8. 8
   verb

   be menacing, burdensome, or oppressive

   This worry hangs on my mind

Etymology

From Middle English hangen, hongen, from a fusion of Old English hōn (“to hang, be hanging”, transitive verb) and hangian (“to hang, cause to hang”, intransitive verb), respectively from the transitive verb Proto-West Germanic *hą̄han and the intransitive verb *hangēn; also probably influenced by Old Norse hengja (“to suspend”) and hanga (“to be suspended”); all from Proto-Germanic *hanhaną and *hangāną, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱenk- (“to waver, be in suspense”). See also Dutch hangen, Low German hangen and hängen, German hängen, Norwegian Bokmål henge, Norwegian Nynorsk henga; also Gothic 𐌷…