What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Hang vs Attach - What's the difference?

hang | attach |

As verbs the difference between hang and attach

is that hang is while attach is (obsolete|legal) to arrest, seize.

hang

English

(wikipedia hang)

Etymology 1

A fusion of (etyl) .

Verb

  • (lb) To be or remain suspended.
  • :
  • *
  • *:On the dark-green walls hung a series of eight engravings, portraits of early Victorian belles, clad in lace and tarletan ball dresses, clipped from an old Book of Beauty. Mrs. Bunting was very fond of these pictures; she thought they gave the drawing-room a note of elegance and refinement.
  • (lb) To float, as if suspended.
  • :
  • (lb) To hold or bear in a suspended or inclined manner or position instead of erect.
  • :
  • (lb) To cause (something) to be suspended, as from a hook, hanger or the like.
  • :
  • :
  • ::It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come! It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.
  • To execute (someone) by suspension from the neck.
  • :
  • *{{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
  • , chapter=3 citation , passage=‘[…] There's every Staffordshire crime-piece ever made in this cabinet, and that's unique. The Van Hoyer Museum in New York hasn't that very rare second version of Maria Marten's Red Barn over there, nor the little Frederick George Manning—he was the criminal Dickens saw hanged on the roof of the gaol in Horsemonger Lane, by the way—’}}
  • To be executed by suspension by one's neck from a gallows, a tree, or other raised bar, attached by a rope tied into a noose.
  • :
  • To loiter, hang around, to spend time idly.
  • :
  • (lb) To exhibit (an object) by hanging.
  • (lb) To apply (wallpaper or drywall to a wall).
  • :
  • (lb) To decorate (something) with hanging objects.
  • :
  • To remain persistently in one's thoughts.
  • *1895 , H. G. Wells, The Time Machine , Ch.X:
  • *:Exploring, I found another short gallery running transversely to the first. This appeared to be devoted to minerals, and the sight of a block of sulphur set my mind running on gunpowder. But I could find no saltpeter; indeed no nitrates of any kind. Doubtless they had deliquesced ages ago. Yet the sulphur hung in my mind and set up a train of thinking.
  • To stop responding to manual input devices such as keyboard or mouse.
  • :
  • To cause (a program or computer) to stop responding.
  • :
  • To cause (a piece) to become vulnerable to capture.
  • :
  • To be vulnerable to capture.
  • :
  • Synonyms
    * (be or remain suspended) be suspended, dangle * (float as if suspended) float, hover * lynch, string up * (be executed) go to the gallows, swing (informal) * (loiter) hang about, hang around, loiter * freeze, lock up * suspend * (hold or bear in a suspended or inclined manner or position instead of erect) drop, lower * (to place on a hook) hook, hook up * (exhibit) exhibit, show * put up * bedeck, deck, decorate * freeze, lock up * *
    Usage notes
    * Formerly, at least through the 16th century, the past tense of the transitive use of (term) was (hanged) (see quote from King James Bible, above). This form is retained for the legal senses "to be executed by suspension from the neck" and "to execute by suspension from the neck" and (hung) for all other meanings. However, this rule is not uniformly understood or observed. (term) is sometimes substituted for (term), which would be considered inappropriate in legal or other formal writing (for the applicable senses only) or, more rarely, vice versa . See also – in Old English there were separate words for transitive (whence (term)) and intransitive (whence (term)).
    Derived terms
    * behang * hang a left * hang a right * hang about * hang around * hang back * hangdog * * hanger * hang fire * hang-glider * hang in * hang in the balance * hang in there * hanging * hang it * hangman * hangnail * hang off * hang on * hang onto * hang out * hang out to dry * hang-out, hangout * hangover * hang ten * hang together * hang tough * hang up * hang-up, hangup * I'll be hanged * leave hanging * overhang * underhang

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The way in which something hangs.
  • ''This skirt has a nice hang .
  • (figuratively) A grip, understanding
  • ''He got the hang of it after only two demonstrations
  • (computing) An instance of ceasing to respond to input devices.
  • ''We sometimes get system hangs .
  • A sharp or steep declivity or slope.
  • Derived terms
    * get the hang of

    Etymology 2

    From hang sangwich, Irish colloquial pronunciation of (term) sandwich.

    Noun

    (-)
  • (Ireland, informal, derogatory) Cheap, processed ham (cured pork), often made specially for sandwiches.
  • Etymology 3

    attach

    English

    Verb

  • (obsolete, legal) To arrest, seize.
  • * 1590 , (Edmund Spenser), (The Faerie Queene) , I.xii:
  • Eftsoones the Gard, which on his state did wait, / Attacht that faitor false, and bound him strait
  • * 1610 , , by (William Shakespeare), act 3 scene 2
  • Old lord, I cannot blame thee, / Who am myself attach'd with weariness / To th' dulling of my spirits: sit down, and rest.
  • * Miss Yonge
  • The earl marshal attached Gloucester for high treason.
  • To fasten, to join to (literally and figuratively).
  • An officer is attached to a certain regiment, company, or ship.
  • * Paley
  • The shoulder blade is attached only to the muscles.
  • * Macaulay
  • a huge stone to which the cable was attached
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author= Lee S. Langston, magazine=(American Scientist)
  • , title= The Adaptable Gas Turbine , passage=Turbines have been around for a long time—windmills and water wheels are early examples. The name comes from the Latin turbo'', meaning ''vortex , and thus the defining property of a turbine is that a fluid or gas turns the blades of a rotor, which is attached to a shaft that can perform useful work.}}
  • To adhere; to be attached.
  • * Brougham
  • The great interest which attaches to the mere knowledge of these facts cannot be doubted.
  • To come into legal operation in connection with anything; to vest.
  • Dower will attach .
    (Cooley)
  • To win the heart of; to connect by ties of love or self-interest; to attract; to fasten or bind by moral influence; with to .
  • attached''' to a friend; '''attaching others to us by wealth or flattery
  • * Jane Austen
  • incapable of attaching a sensible man
  • * Cowper
  • God by various ties attaches man to man.
  • To connect, in a figurative sense; to ascribe or attribute; to affix; with to .
  • to attach great importance to a particular circumstance
  • * Bayard Taylor
  • To this treasure a curse is attached .
  • (obsolete) To take, seize, or lay hold of.
  • (Shakespeare)

    Synonyms

    * (to fasten, to join to ) connect, annex, affix, unite

    Antonyms

    * (to fasten, to join to ) detach, unfasten, disengage, separate

    Derived terms

    () * attachable * attachment * attacher * get attached