hanger-on

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English

Alternative forms

Etymology

Agent noun of hang on.

Noun

hanger-on (plural hangers-on)

  1. Someone who hangs on, or sticks to, a person, place, or service.
    • c. 1760-1774, Oliver Goldsmith, An Elegy on the Glory of her Sex, Mrs Mary Blaze:
      Her love was sought, I do aver, / By twenty beaux and more; / The king himself has follow'd her / When she has walk'd before. / But now her wealth and finery fled, / Her hangers-on cut short all […]
    • 1895, Benjamin Disraeli, Sybil: Or; The Two Nations, page 161:
      Not that he was what is commonly called a Screw; that is to say he was not a mere screw; but he was acute and malicious; saw everybody's worth and position at a glance; could not bear to expend his choice wines and costly viands on hangers-on and toadeaters, though at the same time no man encouraged and required hangers-on and toadeaters more.
    • 1939 September, D. S. Barrie, “The Railways of South Wales”, in Railway Magazine, page 158:
      The Rhymney (51 route miles), once an impecunious hanger-on of the Taff Vale, had enjoyed its own route through Caerphilly into Cardiff since 1871, [...].
    • 2023 August 31, William Meny & Paul Simms, “A Weekend at Morrigan Manor” (18:31 from the start), in What We Do in the Shadows‎, season 5, episode 9, spoken by The Guide (Kristen Schaal):
      “I thought you really liked us.” “I did. Deeply and desperately. And all I wanted was for you to like me. Instead, you treated me like... an afterthought.” “I have got absolutely no really close female friends anymore.” “An annoyance.” “Oh, nice going, dipshit.” “A hanger-on.” “Stand over there and just pretend not to listen.” “I can do that.” “An inconvenience.” “You did R-S-veep "yes."” “Sort of hard to shuffle things around at this late stage.”
  2. (mining, historical) An onsetter.

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