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Henry74 Posted 14 years ago
Vocabulary

Hang with

Hello everyone,

this is a passage from the description of a castle:
- The central courtyard is hung with staircases and open wood balconies running along the upper stories,...

My dictionary of idioms and phrasal verbs only gives "Spend time with someone" for hang with, but I think the picture is clear enough for me to understand it as Courtyard walls that have balconies and staircases "hanging from" them.

Is this rare or standard usage? Could you please give me a few more examples of it?
Can I say for example, My room is hung with posters?

Thank you for your help!
H.
  

Top answer

Henry74 for me to understand it as Courtyard walls that have balconies and staircases "hanging from" them. Correct. Henry74 Is this rare or standard usage?

— MalRey

  • Henry74 for me to understand it as Courtyard walls that have balconies and staircases "hanging from" them.
  • Correct.
  • Henry74 Is this rare or standard usage?
  • com/dictionary/hang_1 Henry74 Can I say for example, My room is hung with posters?
  • Yes, it's perfectly fine and should be understood without any problems.
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9 Answers
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Henry74for me to understand it as Courtyard walls that have balconies and staircases "hanging from" them.
Correct.
Henry74Is this rare or standard usage?
I don't think of it as rare but I had a surprisingly hard time finding this formal definition (2c):
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"Hung with staircases..." is very unusual usage today. What I think is going on here is that the writer is trying for a certain effect, as the the word "hung" can have controversial connotations.

"Hung with posters" is also unusual usage today, for the same reason as above. You might have heard this in the 1950's, but today it would be unusual.
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Ok. Got it.
Thank you both for your answers.

H.
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That "hung with" is plain English, now and forever. The gymnasium was hung with Halloween decorations for the October dance.
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"The gym was hung with Halloween decorations" is okay because the decorations are actually "hung" from the rafters, but "hung with posters" or "hung with staircases" is unusual because the things are not actually hung like in the gym.
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We hang posters just as we hang paintings. There is nothing unusual here. The word "hang" can handle the staircases. I can see them just fine hanging on the walls of the courtyard with the balconies.

I just now got the "controversial connotations". Um ... eeewwww. Raise your sights, man.
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You can hang a painting on the wall, and you can say a painting is hanging on the wall, but to say your wall is hung with paintings is unusual usage.
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You said it was unususal usage "today" and that we "might have heard this in the 1950s". The American Heritage Dictionary hasn't heard about that: "To furnish, decorate, or appoint by suspending objects around or about: hang a room with curtains." Neither has Collins: "to decorate, furnish, or cover with something suspended or fastened ? to hang a wall with tapestry." Macmillan makes no men
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enoonIn no dictionary have I found anything about this usage being dated, and it strikes me as unremarkable plain English.
That's because it's not dated and it is unremarkable English.

See my original answer to your questions.
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