Idioms

hang for

hang (someone) for (something)

To execute someone by hanging for having committed a particular crime or misdeed. The phrase can also be used to describe a situation in which the punishment seems excessive. They can still hang you for murder, and they might just try. I'll admit, parking in a handicapped space was a mistake. But this is officer is trying to hang me for it! This brutal dictatorship will hang you for even whispering dissatisfaction with the government.
See also: for, hang
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

hang someone for something

 
1. Lit. to execute someone by hanging for doing something. The state prosecutor will try to hang you for this crime. The sheriff wanted to hang fed for murder.
2. Fig. to extract an overly severe punishment for some deed. They are trying to hang me for a parking ticket. You can't hang me just for coming in late!
See also: for, hang
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
See also:
References in classic literature
They ran thus: "AN IMPENETRABLE MYSTERY SEEMS DESTINED TO HANG FOR EVER OVER THIS ACT OF MADNESS OR DESPAIR."
"TO HANG FOR EVER OVER." It was an obsession, a torture.
"An impenetrable mystery" was sure "to hang for ever" as far as all mankind was concerned.
"AN IMPENETRABLE MYSTERY IS DESTINED TO HANG FOR EVER.
View in context
At the end of the course, Pak Wing asked Kai Hang for her phone number and shortly afterward invited her out to take photos.
Gray
OCBC has agreed to buy Wing Hang for around 1.9 times its book value, the person said, which based on Wing Hang's first-half 2013 book value of 66.40 Hong Kong dollars ($8.56) a share would be about $5bn, according to Castor Pang, research head at Core Pacific-Yamaichi.
OCBC in $5bn deal to buy Wing Hang Bank
At the beginning, I could hang for only 10 seconds.
Hangman Takuzo
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