hanging wall

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noun

Mining. the underside of the wall rock overlying a vein or bed of ore.Compare footwall (def. 1).

Geology. a mass of rock overhanging a fault plane.

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Origin of hanging wall

First recorded in 1770–80

Words nearby hanging wall

hanging post, hanging scroll, hanging step, hanging stile, hanging valley, hanging wall, hang in the balance, hang it, hang loose, hangman, hangman's knot

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use hanging wall in a sentence

A Wall Street person should not be allowed to help oversee the Dodd-Frank reforms.
Antonio Weiss Is Not Part of the Problem|Steve Rattner|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
It was a brick wall that we turned into the on-ramp of a highway.
Coffee Talk with Fred Armisen: On ‘Portlandia,’ Meeting Obama, and Taylor Swift’s Greatness|Marlow Stern|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
It reminded me a bit of an alternative take on The Wolf of Wall Street—through the Toni and Candace lens.
Coffee Talk with Fred Armisen: On ‘Portlandia,’ Meeting Obama, and Taylor Swift’s Greatness|Marlow Stern|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Some “hanging judges” have handed down hundreds of death sentences at a time.
Amal Clooney vs. Egypt’s Courts|Christopher Dickey|January 4, 2015|DAILY BEAST

One is forced to ask, what on earth was Andrew doing hanging out with scantily clad teenagers?
Buckingham Palace Disputes Sex Allegations Against Prince ‘Randy Andy’|Tom Sykes|January 4, 2015|DAILY BEAST
A flash of surprise and pleasure lit the fine eyes of the haughty beauty perched up there on the palace wall.
The Red Year|Louis Tracy
Kind of a reception-room in there—guess I know a reception-room from a hole in the wall.
Boys and Girls Bookshelf; a Practical Plan of Character Building, Volume I (of 17)|Various
Distance, the uncertain light, and imagination, magnified it to a high wall; high as the wall of China.
The Giant of the North|R.M. Ballantyne
He leant against the wall of his refuge, notwithstanding this boast, and licked the ice to moisten his parched lips.
The Giant of the North|R.M. Ballantyne
A little boy aged two years and four months was deprived of a pencil from Thursday to Sunday for scribbling on the wall-paper.
Children's Ways|James Sully

British Dictionary definitions for hanging wall

hanging wall

noun

the rocks on the upper side of an inclined fault plane or mineral veinCompare footwall

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for hanging wall

hanging wall

The block of rock lying above an inclined geologic fault plane. See more at fault. Compare footwall.