hang

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hang pt. and pp. hung, hanged intr. be attached above without support beneath OE.; trans. attach in this way XIII. The present stem derives from (i) intr. OE. hangian, pt. hangode (pp. hanged from XIV) = OS. hangon, OHG. hangēn (Du., G. hangen) :- WGmc. wk. vb. *χaŋʒōjan, *-ǣjan, (ii) trans. ON. hanga, pt. hekk, pp. hanginn = OE. hōn (which continued till XIII), pt. heng (till XVI), pp. hangen (till XV), OS., OHG. hāhan, MLG., MDu. hān, MHG. hāhen, Goth. hāhan (pt. haihāh) :- Gmc. redupl. vb. *χāŋχan (prob. rel. to L. cunctārī delay, Skr. śáṅkate hesitate); pt. and pp. hung were established in literary Eng. in late XVI, with hanged largely restricted to the sense ‘kill by hanging’.
Hence hangman XIV.

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