DANGLE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does dangle mean? 

• DANGLE (verb)
  The verb DANGLE has 2 senses:

1. hang freely

2. cause to dangle or hang freely

  Familiarity information: DANGLE used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DANGLE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they dangle    ... he / she / it dangles   
Past simple: dangled   
Past participle: dangled   
-ing form: dangling   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Hang freely

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Synonyms:

dangle; drop; swing

Context example:

The light dropped from the ceiling

Hypernyms (to "dangle" is one way to...):

hang (be suspended or hanging)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "dangle"):

droop; loll (hang loosely or laxly)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Something is ----ing PP

Sentence examples:

Some big birds dangle in the tree
There dangle some big birds in the tree

Sense 2

Meaning:

Cause to dangle or hang freely

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Context example:

He dangled the ornaments from the Christmas tree

Hypernyms (to "dangle" is one way to...):

suspend (hang freely)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something PP

Sentence example:

They dangle the lights from the ceiling

Derivation:

dangling (the act of suspending something (hanging it from above so it moves freely))

 Context examples 

The ears are long and dangling and the tail curves up like a saber.

(Otterhound, NCI Thesaurus)

To find out, they gathered bees from the wild and put them in a container in their lab where they were allowed to form a cluster, dangling from a movable apparatus.

(Bees Help Researchers Confirm Theory about Maintaining Protective Clumps under Tough Conditions, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Then he pushed him in head first, tied up the sack, and soon swung up the searcher after wisdom dangling in the air.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

He wore a fur tippet round his neck and a heavy gold chain over it, with a medallion which dangled in front of him.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

As he dangled from the hook it was exaggerated and intensified until he was scarce human in his appearance.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

She was patching a pair of his trousers, while his lean body was distributed over two chairs, his feet dangling in dilapidated carpet-slippers over the edge of the second chair.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

He unfolded it and disclosed a golden pince-nez, with two broken ends of black silk cord dangling from the end of it.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

"Where, where?" shrieks Amy, staring out at two tall posts with a crossbeam and some dangling chains.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

A more absurd object than she presented cocked up there with her face convulsed with anger, her feet dangling, and her body rigid for fear of an upset, I could not imagine.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)