hang fire

Idioms and Phrases

Delay, as in The advertising campaign is hanging fire until they decide how much to spend on it . This expression originally referred to the 17th-century flintlock musket, where the priming powder ignited but often failed to explode the main charge, a result called hanging fire . [c. 1800]

Example Sentences

The surprise made the others I had been dining seem statues from the stone age, and only Mr. Graves' fork failed to hang fire.

From Project Gutenberg

My B. says she is constantly trying to incite me to literary effort, but I hang fire.

From Project Gutenberg

His plots hang fire, are difficult to follow, and are not worth remembering.

From Project Gutenberg

Now, I'll not have thee in our gang, for thou art not up to the fun, and thou'd hang fire when the time came to be doing.

From Project Gutenberg

The perception of this excess made Charlotte, whether for gravity or for irony, hang fire a minute.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• adjourn
• arrest
• bar
• cease
• defer
• discontinue
• eject
• exclude
• file
• halt
• interrupt
• postpone
• put off
• reject
• rule out
• shelve
• stay
• waive
• withhold