hang up one's spurs
hang up one's spurs verb: to quit, to stop engaging in a line of work or type of activity.
Verb
hang up one's spurs (third-person singular simple present hangs up one's spurs, present participle hanging up one's spurs, simple past and past participle hung up one's spurs)
- To quit, to stop engaging in a line of work or type of activity.
- Figured I'd find me some shack or lean-to and hang up my spurs.2012, Fern Michaels, Fancy Dancer
- It made his wife a great deal happier, and in light of the fact that he had four kids, one of whom was still in diapers, it was probably a good idea to hang up his spurs, but God, he missed it.2012, Vince Flynn, The Last Man
Forms of hang up one's spurs
| third-person singular present | hangs up one's spurs |
|---|---|
| present participle | hanging up one's spurs |
| past participle | hung up one's spurs |
| past | hung up one's spurs |
Origin of hang up one's spurs
Originally cowboy slang, implying that if one hangs up one's spurs, one no longer is using the tools of the trade.
Questions about hang up one's spurs
- What does hang up one's spurs mean?
- Hang up one's spurs means to quit, to stop engaging in a line of work or type of activity.
- What part of speech is hang up one's spurs?
- Hang up one's spurs is a verb.
- What is the past tense of hang up one's spurs?
- The past tense of hang up one's spurs is hung up one's spurs.
Words near hang up one's spurs in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: hang up one's spurs (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “hang up one's spurs.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/hang_up_one%27s_spurs. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.