hang upon

English

Verb

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

1. To regard with passionate affection.
2. To pay overt attention to, as from sycophancy or intense interest.

   They hung upon his every word.

3. (military) To hover around.

   to hang upon the flanks of a retreating enemy

4. (idiomatic) To depend upon.

   Synonym: hang on

   Everything hangs upon whether the boss agrees.

Related terms

• hang on

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “hang upon”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)