hang fire
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.52 in modern English
15
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
2
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To fail to fire immediately when the trigger is pulled.
Example Sentences
- "[…] a number of Portuguese soldiers entered, one of whom, taking me for a Frenchman, for I had the French soldier's jacket on, my own being wet, snapped his piece at me, which luckily hung fire."
- "We were told to hang fire on the decision until management came back with a proposal."
- "“I’m just goin’ ter settle this little ——, that’s all,” said Dawes desperately. “What do you mean?” snapped Thomas Jordan. “What I say,” said Dawes, but he hung fire."
- "Kevin hung fire where he was, staring at Chaney's body with dilated eyes and a slowly greening complexion."