hang up

Verb

hang up (third-person singular simple present hangs up, present participle hanging up, simple past and past participle hung up)

1. (idiomatic, transitive) To put up to hang.
   • I hung up my wash on the line.
2. (ambitransitive, idiomatic) To terminate a telephone call, originally by hanging the receiver on its hook or cradle thereby automatically disconnecting the line.
   • When my mother started telling me to be careful over the phone, I threatened to hang up on her.
   • And as I hung up the phone, it occurred to me
     He'd grown up just like me
     My boy was just like me.1974, Harry Chapin and Sandra Chapin, “Cat's in the Cradle”, in Verities & Balderdash, performed by Harry Chapin

   Synonyms:

   ring off

   Antonyms:

   pick up the phone

3. (figuratively, idiomatic, intransitive) To stop talking.
4. (colloquial, idiomatic, transitive) To keep delayed, suspended, held up, or stuck.
   • Seeing you's all I've been thinking about. You know I wouldn't hang you up this way if it wasn't for a damned good reason.1986, Charlotte Vale Allen, Time/Steps, page 396
5. (idiomatic) To rob or mug (someone).
6. (idiomatic) To arrest (someone); to send (someone) to prison.
   • So call up Trudy on the telephone / Send her a letter in the mail / Tell her I'm hung up in Dallas / They won't let me out of this jail1971, Charlie Daniels, “Trudy”, in Charlie Daniels
7. (idiomatic) To quit (something); to give up or stop doing (something); to abandon (something).
   • He hung up the flute after college.
   • I think it's time to hang it up.
8. (idiomatic) To distress, disadvantage or harm (someone).