HANGING

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does hanging mean? 

• HANGING (noun)
  The noun HANGING has 3 senses:

1. decoration that is hung (as a tapestry) on a wall or over a window

2. a form of capital punishment; victim is suspended by the neck from a gallows or gibbet until dead

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

  Familiarity information: HANGING used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• HANGING (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Decoration that is hung (as a tapestry) on a wall or over a window

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

hanging; wall hanging

Context example:

the cold castle walls were covered with hangings

Hypernyms ("hanging" is a kind of...):

decoration; ornament; ornamentation (something used to beautify)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "hanging"):

dossal; dossel (an ornamental hanging of rich fabric hung behind the altar of a church or at the sides of a chancel)

Kakemono (a Japanese (paper or silk) wall hanging; usually narrow with a picture or writing on it and a roller at the bottom)

lambrequin (short and decorative hanging for a shelf edge or top of a window casing)

arras; tapestry (a wall hanging of heavy handwoven fabric often with pictorial designs)

Derivation:

hang (cause to be hanging or suspended)

hang (be suspended or hanging)

hang (decorate or furnish with something suspended)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A form of capital punishment; victim is suspended by the neck from a gallows or gibbet until dead

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Context example:

in those days the hanging of criminals was a public entertainment

Hypernyms ("hanging" is a kind of...):

capital punishment; death penalty; executing; execution (putting a condemned person to death)

Derivation:

hang (kill by hanging)

Sense 3

Meaning:

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

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

dangling; hanging; suspension

Context example:

there was a small ceremony for the hanging of the portrait

Hypernyms ("hanging" is a kind of...):

support; supporting (the act of bearing the weight of or strengthening)

Derivation:

hang (be suspended or poised)

 Context examples 

His gaunt face was scratched and bloody, his clothes were hanging in rags, and his hat was gone.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

When he gets home, he has the rope in his hand, and there is no longer anything hanging on to it.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

Putting out my hand I felt several coats hanging from the wall, and I understood that I was in a passage.

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

Even this, showing me the basket-trifle, full of keys, still hanging at her side, seems to jingle a kind of old tune!

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

The ears are hanging and tight to the cheeks.

(Norfolk Terrier, NCI Thesaurus)

It seemed, sir, a woman, tall and large, with thick and dark hair hanging long down her back.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

"I know it," said the Lion, hanging his head in shame.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

On the way to town, hanging around the saloon at the cross-roads, were three dogs that made a practice of rushing out upon him when he went by.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

But if the blow falls which is forever hanging over me, then I should wish you to read this, that you may know straight from me how far I have been to blame.

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

"Is it meant to use as you use the string of good-smelling wooden beads hanging over your glass?" asked Amy.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)