hang up

hang up

Meaning

• to disconnect a phone call. It is often used when someone does not want to continue a conversation
• something that prohibits someone from making progress in a situation. It is hyphenated and used as a noun
• to give up on someone or something
• to be obsessed with someone or something, this is used very informally
• to stop doing something
• hang from a hook

Example Sentences

1. If you do not stop complaining then I will hang up on you.
2. Don’t you dare hang up until I have had a chance to ask my question!
3. Jane has a lot of hang-ups about being an overweight child.
4. Peter has hung-ups about not being as educated as some of his peers.
5. We had to hang up on them as they were just not able to do the job that we needed.
6. She is still hung up on her ex-boyfriend.
7. After ten years as a professional ballerina she will finally hang up her dancing shoes.

Origin

It is slang that has been used since the early 1900s. It is seen as a phrasal verb more than as an idiom. That means that the context will differ depending on where and how it is used. The first documented use of the phrase is in 1955–1960.

Anthony Trollope, The Warden, 1855:

Eight hundred a year, and as nice a house as any gentleman could wish to hang up his hat in …

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