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hang-up
[hang-uhp]
noun
a preoccupation, fixation, or psychological block; complex.
His hang-up is trying to outdo his brother.
a source of annoying difficulty or burden; impediment; snag.
The most serious hang-up the project has is a shortage of funds.
a fixture, object, or decoration that can be affixed to a wall, ceiling, other objects, etc..
He brightened up the room with flower baskets and other hang-ups.
hang up
verb
(tr) to put on a hook, hanger, etc
please hang up your coat
to replace (a telephone receiver) on its cradle at the end of a conversation, often breaking a conversation off abruptly
informalto cause to have an emotional or psychological preoccupation or problem
he's really hung up on his mother
noun
an emotional or psychological preoccupation or problem
a persistent cause of annoyance
51Թ History and Origins
Origin of hang-up1
Idioms and Phrases
Suspend on a hook or hanger, as in Let me hang up your coat for you . [c. 1300]
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]
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]
Have or cause to have emotional difficulties, as in Being robbed at gunpoint can hang one up for years to come . [ Slang ; early 1900s]
hung up on . Obsessed with, as in For years the FBI was hung up on Communist spies . [First half of 1900s]
. 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.
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).
Example Sentences
They don't have a hang-up about the French the way they do against the Irish.
Trump has reportedly had a hang-up about his mitts since Greydon Carter's Spy magazine called him a "short-fingered vulgarian" three decades ago.
Among those 16 states, the average call center wait time was 25 minutes and the average hang-up rate was 29%.
The cost was a hang-up, however, with Democratic budget leaders this session deciding to prioritize dollars for existing programs rather than new programs, he said.
The hang-up is simply that we have to run these routes for an entire day and the window to charge them is just a small window overnight.
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