hanging
nounEtymology From Middle English hangynge, honginge, equivalent to hang + -ing. Compare Old English hengen (“hanging”) and hōhing (“hanging”).
1
The act of hanging a person (or oneself) by the neck in order to kill that person (or to commit suicide).
- Hanging is the punishment for one convicted of war crimes, there.
- The hanging of the bandits was attended by the whole village.
4 more examples
- No, Sir, 'tis fear of Hanging. Who would not ſteal, or do Murder, every time his Fingers itch'd at it, were it not for fear of the Gallows?1728, Thomas Otway, “The Atheist, or, the Second Part of the Soldier's Fortune”, in The Works of Mr. Thomas Otway, volume 2, London, page 37:
- Public hangings were abolished in 1868 by Act of Parliament.1958 May 23, “Excursions Extraordinary”, in Railway Magazine, page 319:
- Along with trial by ordeal, hanging was the most effective deterrent that could be devised in an age without police or prisons.1999, Robert Lacey, Danny Danziger, The Year 1000: What life was like at the turn of The First Millennium, London: Abacus, published 2000, page 175:
- It was just too bad that Milosevic died of "natural" causes in his cell in 2006 before he was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment, although a hanging would have been preferable.2022 March 10, Peter Lucas, “Lucas: Putin has blood on his hands and The Hague must make him pay”, in Boston Herald, archived from the original on 06 Aug 2022:
2
Anything that is hung as a decorative element (such as curtains, gobelins, or posters).
- The various hangings on that Christmas tree look nice.
3
The way in which hangings (decorations) are arranged.
- I dislike the cramped hanging in the gallery of 18th century painters.
- Synonyms
- halter, a quick drop and a sudden stop, Abraham's balsam, necktie party
- Derived terms
- antihanging, bedhanging, crapehanging, crepehanging, hanging judge, hanging offence, hanging tree, paperhanging, unexpected hanging paradox, wall hanging, wallhanging
- Related terms
- portière, portiere