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hung
think (someone) hung the moon and the stars
To consider someone to be extraordinary, the best, or exceptionally wonderful. Your little sister absolutely adores you; she thinks you hung the moon and the stars!
hang by the eyelids
To have a loose grip on something. Can be used either literally or figuratively. For the tug-of-war, don't just hang by the eyelids, gentlemen! Really get a secure grip on the rope and keep a strong stance! I currently have a D in this class, but I'm just hanging by the eyelids—I really need to get a tutor.
hang on (one's) sleeve
To be totally reliant on someone else. You're 30 years old, so stop hanging on your mother's sleeve and get a job already! I know my kids are too young to be self-sufficient, but sometimes I just need a night without anyone hanging on my sleeve.
hang (up) (one's) hat
To live somewhere; to take up residence. I'm originally from the East Coast, but I hang my hat in San Francisco these days. I've been traveling around the world for so long that it feels strange to finally have a place to hang up my hat.
hang up (one's) hatchet
1. To make peace with someone. It is most likely an earlier version of the phrase "bury the hatchet." Can you please hang up your hatchet and make up with your sister already? I can't take the constant fighting.
2. To take a break from work; to stop working. Hang up your hatchet, buddy, it's lunchtime! It's really time for me to hang up my hatchet and find a new job somewhere else.
hang up (one's) boots
To retire from playing a sport. After suffering so many injuries on the field, I think it's time for him to hang up his boots.
hang up (one's) fiddle
To retire from something. I've been at the company for 30 years, so it's time for me to hang up my fiddle.
hang up (one's) spurs
To stop doing something; to retire from something. I've been at the company for 30 years, so it's time for me to hang up my spurs. You're an adult now, and you can't stay out all weekend—it's time to hang up your spurs and ditch the party scene.
hang up
1. verb To disconnect a phone call. The term is often used to mean to end the call in the middle of the conversation, but it can also mean to disconnect the call when it is finished. Don't you dare hang up on me, I'm not done issuing my complaint! I can't hear you anymore, it must be a bad signal. I'm going to hang up now, so call me back if you can hear this.
2. noun (usually hyphenated) A disconnected phone call. The phone's been ringing all day, but it's just been a bunch of hang-ups. I think someone's pranking us.
3. noun (usually hyphenated) An impediment of some kind, usually an emotional or psychological insecurity, that prevents a person from making progress in a situation. Jeff's personal hang-up is that he always felt like his parents supported his brother more than they supported him.
until the last dog is hung
Until the very end. You can leave early, but I'm staying here until the last dog is hung.
hang something up
to return the telephone receiver to its cradle. (See also
hang it up.)
Please hang this up when I pick up the other phone. Please hang up the phone.hang up
. 1. [for a machine or a computer] to grind to a halt; to stop because of some internal complication. Our computer hung up right in the middle of printing the report. I was afraid that my computer would hang up permanently.
2. to replace the telephone receiver after a call; to terminate a telephone call. I said good-bye and hung up. Please hang up and place your call again.
hang up
(on someone or something) 1. and hang up (in someone's ear) to end a telephone call by returning the receiver to the cradle while the other party is still talking. She hung up on me! I had to hang up on all that rude talk.
2. to give up on someone or something; to quit dealing with someone or something. Finally, I had to hang up on Jeff. I can't depend on him for anything. We hung up on them because we knew we couldn't make a deal.
have something hung up and salted
Rur. to know everything about something. (Often used ironically, as in the second example.) The historian sure had Louisiana history hung up and salted. Jim's sixteen years old, and he thinks he has the opposite sex hung up and salted.
hung up (on someone or something)
obsessed with someone or something; devoted to someone or something. John is really hung up on Mary. She's hung up, too. See how she smiles at him.
might as well be hung for a sheep as (for) a lamb
Rur. might as well commit a large fault as a small one, since the same punishment will result. I'll take the expensive fishing rod. My wife will be mad at me no matter how much I spend, so I might as well be hung for a sheep as for a lamb.
think someone hung the moon (and stars)
and think someone is God's own cousinRur. to think someone is perfect. Joe won't listen to any complaints about Mary. He thinks she hung the moon and stars. Jim is awful stuck-up. He thinks he's God's own cousin.
hang up
to end a telephone connection I can't think of his name, but it'll come to me as soon as we hang up.
hung over
feeling ill from drinking too much alcohol I was so hung over that I couldn't even get out of bed.
hung up on somebody
in love with someone in a foolish way Jeff's hung up on that actress he met at the party.
hung up on something
stopped from making progress by something you think is very important We got hung up on the planning and forgot that we were supposed to produce something.
I might as well be hanged/hung for a sheep as a lamb.
something that you say when you are going to be punished for something so you decide to do something worse because your punishment will not be any more severe
Usage notes: In the past, people who stole lambs were killed, so it was worth stealing something more because there was no worse punishment.
I'm going to be late for work anyway, so I think I'll go to the shop for a paper. I might as well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb. well-hung
(very informal) a well-hung man has a large penis A crowd of well-hung young men paraded around in their underwear.
hang up
1. Suspend on a hook or hanger, as in Let me hang up your coat for you. [c. 1300]
2. Also, hang up on. Replace a telephone receiver in its cradle; end a phone conversation. For example, She hung up the phone, or He hung up on her. [Early 1900s]
3. Delay or hinder; also, become halted or snagged, as in Budget problems hung up the project for months, or Traffic was hung up for miles. [Second half of 1800s]
4. Have or cause to have emotional difficulties, as in Being robbed at gunpoint can hang one up for years to come. [Slang; early 1900s]
5. hung up on. Obsessed with, as in For years the FBI was hung up on Communist spies. [First half of 1900s]
6. hang up one's sword or gloves or fiddle . Quit, retire, as in He's hanging up his sword next year and moving to Florida. The noun in these expressions refers to the profession one is leaving- sword for the military, gloves for boxing, and fiddle for music-but they all are used quite loosely as well, as in the example.
7. hang up one's hat. Settle somewhere, reside, as in "Eight hundred a year, and as nice a house as any gentleman could wish to hang up his hat in" (Anthony Trollope, The Warden, 1855).
hung up
hang up
v.1. To suspend something on a hook or hanger: Please hang your jacket up in the closet. I hung up my bathrobe on the hook.
2. To replace a telephone receiver on its base or cradle: I hung up the phone and returned to my chores. Will you hang that phone up and get back to your homework?
3. To end a telephone conversation: I said goodbye to my mother and hung up.
4. To delay or impede something; hinder something: Budget problems hung up the project for months. Squabbling hung the contract talks up for weeks.
5. To become snagged or hindered: The fishing line hung up on a rock.
6. To stop doing or participating in some activity: They are planning to hang up their law practice after 40 years. Trying to find your keys in the snow is a lost cause—you might as well hang it up.
7. Slang To have emotional difficulties or inhibitions. Used passively: If you weren't so hung up about your job, you'd be more fun to be around.
8. Slang To be obsessed or consumed with something. Used passively: I'm still hung up on that sale I missed last week.
hang up
1. n. a problem or concern; an obsession. (Usually hang-up.) She’s got some serious hang-ups about cats.
2. in. to say no; to cancel out of something. If you don’t want to do it, just hang up. I’ll understand.
hung
1. mod. hungover. John is really hung this morning.
2. mod. annoyed. Fred is hung and looking for somebody to take it out on.
3. Go to well-hung.
hung like a bull
mod. having large testicles or genitals in general, like a bull. (Said of a male. Usually objectionable.) Well, he’s not exactly hung like a bull, or anything else for that matter.
well-hung
and hung1. mod. having large [male] genitals. (Widely known and very old. Usually objectionable.) If Tom was as well-hung as he thinks he is, he wouldn’t even say anything at all.
2. mod. having large breasts. (Usually objectionable.) She is so hung, she’s top heavy.
hung
verb