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REFERENCE

hang

v. · n.
US //ˈhæŋ// UK //hˈæŋ// hang
Irregular verb past hung past participle hung
  1. 1 to suspend from above (v.)
    A2 Elementary

    to attach something to a hook or a high point so that it stays off the ground.

    to fasten or support something from above without support from below.

    Example

    You can hang your coat on the hook behind the door.

    Example

    The curator decided to hang the largest oil paintings in the central gallery where the ceiling height could accommodate their massive frames.
  2. 2 to spend time (v.)
    B1 Intermediate Informal

    to spend time relaxing or doing nothing in particular, usually with friends.

    to loiter or spend time idly in a specific location or with specific people. Often used as the phrasal verb 'hang out'.

    Example

    We used to hang at the mall every Saturday when we were teenagers.

    Example

    The local teenagers tend to hang around the fountain after school, though they rarely cause any actual trouble.
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  1. 3 computer freezing (v.)
    B2 Upper Intermediate Technical Computing

    when a computer or a program stops working and does not respond to your mouse or keyboard.

    to cease responding to user input or system interrupts. Can be used transitively to describe a process that causes the system to freeze.

    Example

    My laptop started to hang every time I opened more than three tabs.

    Example

    The application would frequently hang during the data export process, forcing users to restart the entire workstation.
  2. 4 understanding a skill (n.)
    B2 Upper Intermediate Informal

    the ability to understand or do something that was difficult at first.

    the precise manner of doing, using, or dealing with something; almost exclusively used in the idiom 'get the hang of'.

    Example

    Driving a manual car is tricky, but you will get the hang of it soon.

    Example

    Once the new recruits get the hang of the filing system, the office should run much more efficiently.

    Usage

    Usually appears in the phrase 'get the hang of something'.
Etymology 1

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 𐌷𐌰𐌷𐌰𐌽 (hāhan), Hittite 𒂵𒀀𒀭𒂵 (/⁠kānk-⁠/, “to hang”), Sanskrit शङ्कते (śáṅkate, “is in doubt, hesitates”), Latin cūnctārī (“to delay”).

Etymology 2

From hang sangwich, Irish colloquial pronunciation of ham sandwich.

Etymology 3

Alteration of dang, itself a minced oath of damn.

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