hang up

hang up
 n.— «One New Year’s Eve nine years ago, four inmates told her they were going to “hang up”—jailspeak for committing suicide by hanging.» —“Nun helps inmates beat the holiday blues” by Bill Tuttle in Queens Newsday (Long Island, N.Y.) Dec. 23, 1999. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)

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Further reading

Stub Your Toe (episode #1606)

Advice about college essays from the winner of a top prize for children’s literature: Kelly Barnhill encourages teens to write about experiences that are uniquely their own, from a point of view that is theirs and no one else’s. Plus, why do we say...

If Grandma Had Wheels (episode #1603)

While compiling the Oxford English Dictionary, lexicographer James Murray exchanged hundreds of letters a week with authors, advisors, and volunteer researchers. A new collection online lets you eavesdrop on discussions about which words should be...