Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. to hang; also trans. (see cite 1933).

c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew.
1764		K. O’Hara Midas II i: daph.: Ay go dangle. [...] nys.: Yes, to Tyburn.
1769		London Mag. Jan. 43/1: I shall have you hang’d, you shall swing for it, you dog, you shall be tuck’d up, you shall dangle.
1772		Bridges Burlesque Homer (3rd edn) 402: He hopes to live to see you hang’d / Nor would he grudge to dangle too / Provided he but follow’d you.
c.1790		‘Peter Pindar’ ‘Odes of Importance’ Works (1794) III 187: I think your Lordships [...] Would not much like to dangle with wry faces.
1895		Truth (Sydney) 14 Apr. 5/3: He loved to see men dangle, / And he liked to see them strangle, / KIck their heels upon nothing while suspended from a beam.
1933		Sun. Times (Perth) 29 Jan. 45/9: We could tell you the year Coolgardle was found, / An’ the day that Ned Kelly was dangled.
1961		(con. 1920s) J. Sparks Burglar to the Nobility 92: I did not want to dangle. Ten years is one thing, but hanging is irremediable.

2. to pursue a woman, but with no intention of an actual proposal of marriage; occas. of a man (see cit. 1848).

1705		Vanbrugh Confederacy i: An old dangling chet, that hobbles about from house to house to bubble the ladies of their money [F&H].
1732		Chloe Surpriz’d 3: Not a Nymph in the Town half so surely can kill, There’s Brazen and Shallow, and Dandy the Beau, With many so deck’d, as if made for a Show Who dangle and follow, and whine and adore.
1748		Smollett Roderick Random (1979) 272: No, no, damme (said Bragwell) I have something else to mind than dangling after a parcel of giddy-headed girls.
1759		Memoirs of the celebrated Miss Fanny M-. 58: Thus did he dangle ’till she found her credit exhausted.
1777		Sheridan School For Scandal III i: An old dangling bachelor, who was single at fifty, only because he could never meet with any one who would have him.
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: Dangle, to dangle. To follow a woman without asking the question.
1798		‘Zodiac’ in Hilaria 117: Them who of lust strongly smell, / Teaze, fumble and feel, drivel, dangle and doat, / On the bawd, or the old batter’d belle.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1848		Thackeray Vanity Fair I 334: She was always dangling and ogling after him.
1865		Brisbane Courier 20 dec. 4/2: [A] dozen puppies dangle after her pretty but thoughtless daughter.
1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 18 Apr. 18/3: The young men will have wiser and better thoughts than are acquired among the imbecilities of 5 o’clock teas, the dangling after dancers at playhouse doors, and other trivialities of a life that has nothing else to do.
1903		Bulletin (Sydney) 10 Dec. 20/1: ‘It’ll come in ’andy for the next petticoat that takes your fancy.’ / Bill lit his pipe again in silence. ‘I ain’t that sort, and you know it. When did you see me danglin’ after a petticoat before?’.
1917		‘Henry Handel Richardson’ Aus. Felix (1971) 63: I don’t believe a blessed thing’s goin’ to come of all young Smith’s danglin’ round. An’ Polly’s still a bit young.

3. to pursue.

1717		Cibber Non-Juror IV i: What! do you think the Man’s to dangle after your ridiculous Airs for ever?
1734		C. Johnson Hist. of Highwaymen &c 354: I was as much plagu’d to take one William Ryland [...] I was dangling after his Arse a Fortnight, without any Success.
1781		Belle’s Stratagem 13: I know you still dangle after that painted sepulchre Laetitia.

4. to be in attendance, e.g. as a servant.

1758		R. Dodsley King and Miller of Mansfield 12: I have now dangled after his Lordship several Years, tantaliz’d with Hopes and Expectations.
1844		New Sporting Mag. (London) Dec. 44: He may go to Almack’s with her, and dangle after her to the Opera.

5. to go, to travel, to move.

1929		A.J. Barr Let Tomorrow Come 40: Well, me an’ him an’ a gunsel dangles into this burgh.
1936		R. Chandler ‘Goldfish’ in Red Wind (1946) 167: He put his glass down empty. ‘Let’s dangle.’.
1959		W. Brown Teen-Age Mafia 27: The thing to do was grab his wallet and get dangling before the fuzz showed.
1962		R. Cook Crust on its Uppers 55: We decide to dangle over to Winston’s.
2013		J. Stahl Bad Sex on Speed 135: Had to dangle back to Cleveland, minus choppers.

6. (US) to go away, esp. in imper. dangle! go away!

1929

D. Hammett ‘Fly Paper’ Story Omnibus (1966) 36: Outside, then. Take the air. Dangle.

7. to keep waiting, lit. or fig.

1969		‘Iceberg Slim’ Pimp 156: Sweetheart, you been dangling me.
1976		H. Selby Jr Demon (1979) 25: He wanted to let Mary dangle for a while [...] He got an additional thrill out of just letting her dangle.