I. noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English, from hangen to hang + -ing — more at hang
1.
a. : the act of suspending something
requested that the entire exhibition committee be at the hanging to assist in positioning the pictures
b. : a killing or execution in which a noose at the end of a suspended rope is placed around a person's neck and then the support under him quickly removed so that he drops or swings free and dies from a broken neck or from asphyxiation
sentenced to hanging
— see gallows ; compare gibbet 1
2. : something hung: as
a. : curtain — usually used in plural
b. : a covering (as a tapestry or wallpaper) for a wall — usually used in plural
3. : a downward slope or inclination : declivity
the hanging of a ship's deck
4. : hang 5
II. adjective
1. : situated or lying on steeply sloping ground
a hanging meadow on the mountainside
or on top of some high place (as a wall or roof)
a fine hanging garden aloft on breezy inaccessible heights — John Muir †1914
2.
a. : leaning over or downward : drooping or jutting out and downward : overhanging
a hanging rock
hanging wood
b. : suspended , pendent
c. : supported only by the wall on one side
a hanging staircase
a hanging balcony
d. : situated at or having a discordant junction
a hanging cirque
3. obsolete : being in suspense or abeyance
4. archaic : downcast or dejected in appearance
5. : adapted for sustaining a hanging object
6.
a. : deserving, likely to cause, or prone to inflict death by hanging
a hanging crime
a hanging judge
b. : being of great moment or significance
not disposed to make a hanging matter of it — Manchester Guardian Weekly
7. of a chess pawn : connected and abreast