Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a dismissive excl. euph.; thus tell someone to go hang!, go hang crepe on oneself!

1593		Shakespeare Taming of the Shrew III ii: Be mad and merry, or go hang yourselves.
1600		Shakespeare Twelfth Night III iv: Go, hang yourselves all!
1614		Jonson Bartholomew Fair Ii iii: Hang yourself, hackney-man.
c.1620		Beaumont & Fletcher Little French Lawyer III ii: Breed new dissentions, goe hang your selves, ’tis all one to me.
c.1639		J. Shirley St Patrick for Ireland in Wardroper (1969) 103: Then if you admire no female elf / The halter may go hang itself.
1649		F. Quarles Virgin Widow V i: And now Museus may goe hang himselfe.
c.1668		‘The Forsaken Maid’s Frolick’ in Ebsworth Roxburghe Ballads (1891) VII:2 381: The flattering fauning Elf, when he had got all my pelf, / And squand’red my goods, he left me i’ th’ sudds, / And bid me go hang myself.
1671		‘L.B.’ New Academy of Complements 165: None of us car’d for Kate, / For she had a tongue with a tang, / Would cry to a Saylor go hang.
1682		Mennis & Smith et al. ‘The Answer’ Wit and Drollery 24: Your Letter I receiv’d Bedect with flourishing quarters, Because you are deceiv’d, Goe hang you in your Garters.
1696		Motteux (trans.) Gargantua and Pantagruel (1927) II Bk V 496: As for you, little envious prigs, snarling bastards [...] you will soon have railed your last: go hang yourselves.
c.1700		London-Bawd (1705) Ch. ii: If I and such as I forsake your House, you may go Hang your selves.
1738		Swift Polite Conversation 43: Well; go hang yourself in your own Garters; for I’m sure the Gallows groans for you.
1750		Newcastle Courant 11 Aug. 4/3: Repent, and go hang thyself.
1787		A. Shirrefs Jamie and Bess v: Ye snarlin’ Critics, spare your bang, / It’s nae for you I write my Sang, / Sae steek your gab, for ye’ll be wrang, / To think to tease me; / Ere I reply, ye’se a ga’e hang.
1799		Sporting Mag. Sept. XIV 325/1: Go hang yourself, you terrible old cat!
1804		T.G. Fessenden ‘Canto II’ Poems 38: Now just take the bag, do you see, / Then go hang yourself with a bridle.
1825		Pierce Egan’s Life in London 21 Aug. 238/1: ‘[Y]ou must go to prison.’ ‘Then you may go and hang yourself!’ screamed her Ladyship.
1840		Vindicator (Belfast) 18 July 4/2: ‘Go hang!’ cried Bob.
1844		Tom Cladpole’s Jurney to Lunnun 28: Wen money’s gone, ya may Goo taak a rup and hang yurself.
1859		Shoreditch Obs. (London) 10 Dec. 3/5: So I calls out to him, ‘Go and hang yourself, you and your lucifer matches’.
1863		London Standard 18 Mar. 4/6: Give up the pelf! And then — go out and hang thyself.
1870		C.G. Leland ‘Steinli von Slang’ Hans Breitmann in Church 135: May I lose my next bitter, / Und denn mit der Teufel go hang, / If id isn’t dat pully young Ritter, / De hell-drivin Steinli von Slang.
1876		C. Hindley Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack 261: Oh, you go and hang yourself, you So-and-so.
1883		R.L. Stevenson Treasure Island 161: You can go hang!
1891		‘’Arry on Arrius’ Punch 26 Dec. 303/1: Hit slick, give what for, and Compulsory Latin and Greek may go ’ang.
1895		Truth (Sydney) 6 Jan. 5/2: The Holy Joes [...] would let the Widows and orphans go hang before they would put their hands in their pockets.
1899		Reading Mercury 18 Nov. 7/7: She responded with ‘Love may go hang’.
1905		A. Binstead Mop Fair 69: Twee-est let ratin’ go hang.
1917		‘A-No. 1’ From Coast to Coast with Jack London 89: We felt quite inclined to let the train go hang while we issued forth from our box car to hunt provender.
1928		J. Agate Gemel in London 57: When I write a novel it is about the core of things. The husk can go hang.
1929		J.F. Matheus Black Damp in Hatch & Hamalian Lost Plays of Harlem Renaissance (1996) Scene i: foots: Yo’ all mek me sick. big steve: Go hang crepe on yourself.
1934		A. Halper Foundry 290: Why don’t you go hang yourself!
1938		Fats Waller ‘Flat Foot Floogie’ 🎵 Whenever your cares are chronic, / Just tell the world, ‘go hang’.
1945		Western Morn. News 6 July 2/7: [advt] Do you ver think to yourself, ‘Oh! Savings Stamps can go hang for this week?’.
1958		Reading Mercury 4 Oct. 6/5: Atomic piles, invade their fundaments [...] Letting posterity perforce go hang.
2013		Mail & Guardian On Line (Johannesburg) 12 Aug. 🌐 Mugabe said those upset by his duisputed landslide election victory could ‘go hang’.

2. of a plan, to collapse, to go wrong, to fail.

1610–20

‘The Westminster Whore’ in Farmer Merry Songs and Ballads (1897) II 5: Wee poor whores may go hang in dispair, / Wee’re undone by the Maids of honour.

3. to allow to fail or die.

1902

Bulletin (Sydney) 4 Oct. 16/1: In letting the weaklings of their flocks and herds go hang, because they have no feed [...], the man on the land is, perhaps, little to blame, but why not mercifully slaughter the done-with brutes.

a general excl. of frustration, annoyance.

1598		Jonson Every Man In his Humour II i: A pox on it, hang it, let it go.
1610		Beaumont & Fletcher Scornful Lady I ii: Your brother’s house is big enough; and, to say truth, h’as too much land, – hang it, dirt!
1614		Jonson Bartholomew Fair II iv: ’Twas but a little scurvy white money, hang it.
c.1642		T. Killigrew Parson’s Wedding (1664) I iii: Hang it, never put good fellowes to say, prythee give me a hundred pounds.
1660		J. Tatham Rump III i: ’Tis a hard word, hang’t.
1675		Head Nugae Venales 73: Hang it (says he) I don’t much care.
1683		Protestant Joyners Ghost 2: But hang it, Rebellion is nothing till they be catch’d.
1697		M. Pix Innocent Mistress III ii: Hang it, ’tis but one ridiculous thing, I’m resolved to do it.
1701		Farquhar Sir Harry Wildair III ii: Oh! hang it.
1709		Cibber Rival Fools V i: Hang it, ev’n forgive her all.
1712		J. Arbuthnot Hist. of John Bull 97: Hang it, for once I’ll trust my friends.
1720		N. Amhurst Poems on Several Occasions 63: Well, hang it all, I’ll not repine.
1734		C. Johnson Hist. of Highwaymen &c 308: I never saw a Woman whom I could like better than this, therefore, hang it, I’le e’en take her.
1748		Spy on Mother Midnight II 45: ‘Hang it!’ says she, give over, for G—d’s Sake’ .
1773		O. Goldsmith She Stoops to Conquer Act II: I shall be confoundedly ridiculous. Yet, hang it! take courage.
1780		H. Cowley Belle’s Stratagem III i: Well, hang it!
c.1790		‘Peter Pindar’ ‘Epistle to a Falling Minister’ Works (1794) II 220: Yet, hang it!
1796		F. Reynolds Fortune’s Fool IV ii: Hang it!—I’m sorry I said I saw her now.
1825		J. Neal Brother Jonathan III 145: Hang it all!
1832		J.K. Paulding Westward Ho! I 193: No, hang it! that’s too musty.
1837		Thackeray Yellowplush Papers in Works III (1898) 260: Not know him! [...] why, hang it, Blewitt! he knows you.
1841		D. Boucicault London Assurance in London Assurance and other Victorian Comedies Act I: But, stay, you must do the polite. Say farewell to him before you part. Hang it, don’t cut him.
1851		M. Reid Scalp-Hunters I 305: Hang it, man! let’s see the shot.
1856		Liverpool Dly Post 6 Dec. 7/2: ‘Hang it, man’ shouted a fellow in the gallery.
1857		T. Hughes Tom Brown’s School-Days (1896) 127: ‘Hang it all!’ broke out East.
1869		J.R. Browne Adventures in Apache Country 182: Hang it all, she didn’t care a cuss about the mines.
1873		W.H. Thomes Slaver’s Adventures 48: Hang it, Mr. Robert, are you going to let this brute eat me alive, or grind my bones to a jelly as thick as lobscouse.
1876		Besant & Rice Golden Butterfly III 91: Hang it all, Jack.
1879		London Life 24 May 2/2: ‘Hang it, I didn’t think that he was engaged tonight’.
1879		C.J. Kickham Knocknagow 88: ‘Hang it,’ exclaimed the doctor, ‘what are ye laughing at?’.
1881		Bulletin (Sydney) 25 June 9/1: We don’t expect either gospel truths, or grammatical correctness from the staff of the D.T., but, hang it all, they might learn to spell.
1884		(con. c.1840) ‘Mark Twain’ Huckleberry Finn 120: Well, hang it all, you did dream it, because there didn’t any of it happen.
1885		Isle of Wight Obs. 6 June 5/5: Can’t balance my book, hang it all!
1894		A. Morrison Tales of Mean Streets (1983) 40: But—why, hang it, he’d have killed her.
1896		M. Williams Round London 120: Hang it all, I think I ought to know a gentleman when I see one.
1900		Marvel 22 May 4: Hang it all! Can’t you believe a chap?
1910		H.G. Wells Hist. of Mr Polly (1946) 228: Was he feeble? Hang it! He’d known feebler people by far!
1910		Marvel 5 Feb. 10: Hang it all, if he didn’t treat you as you deserve.
1917		Malvern Standard (Vic.) 7 July 4/5: Hang it! Can’t think of ’is bally name.
1919		‘Sax Rohmer’ Dope 18: ‘Hang it all!’ cried Gray irritably. ‘Why the devil don’t you look where you’re going!’.
1923		Wodehouse Inimitable Jeeves 166: Everything gone wrong hang it all. Dash it Bertie you simply must come.
1933		E. Mordaunt Mrs. Van Kleek (1949) 142: ‘Hang it all,’ he would have said, ‘ a chap’s got to laugh at something, stuck down in a jam of this sort.’.
1936		D. Stivens Tramp and Other Stories 121: But hang it—you know—there were others.
1947		J. Symons Man Called Jones (1949) 88: I mean, hang it all, she was his ---.
1968		P. Barnes Ruling Class I ix: Hang it all, whatever else you are, you’re still a Gurney.

a general excl.

1591		Greene Notable Discovery of Coosnage in Grosart (1881–3) X 46: Ile verse him, or hang me.
1617		Fletcher Mad Lover IV iii: Why hang me.
c.1642		T. Killigrew Parson’s Wedding (1664) V ii: He heard me once praise my little spaniel bitch Smut for waiting, and hang me if I stirred for seven years after, but I found him lying at my door.
1672		Wycherley Love in a Wood II i: Hang me if I am not pleas’d extreamly with this new fashioned catterwouling, this midnight coursing in the Park.
1680		M. Stevenson Wits Paraphras’d 89: Hang me but every things so lucky, / As if the Doe did cry come Fuck me.
1693		Congreve Old Bachelor V v: Hang me, if I pity you; you are right enough served.
1712		J. Arbuthnot Hist. of John Bull 126: Now hang me if I don’t think you are a parcel of perjur’d rascals.
1725		Bailey (trans.) Erasmus’ Colloquies 451: Hang me, if I would not sooner marry my Daughter to a Horse, than to such a Knight as he.
1761		Nancy Dawson’s Jests 41: With you I’ll toy, and kiss and play; / But hang me if I marry.
1764		K. O’Hara Midas I ii: Hang me if I marry.
1818		Salisbury & Winchester Jrnl 8 June 3: Cousin John, hang me, but you beats us Lununers.
1830		Lytton Paul Clifford I 76: Hang me if I know what to do!
1834		W.A. Caruthers Kentuckian in N.Y. I 25: Hang me if I didn’t always think the fellow was afraid to stand in the woods.
1837		A. Greene Glance at N.Y. I iii: Hang me if I know what to say!
1837		R. Nicholson Cockney Adventures 9 Dec. 46: But hang me if I don’t cut my stick; I doesn’t fancy being blowed up by yer all.
1840		Lytton Money III i: I will lose as much as I please [...] and if he presume to spy on my losses, hang me if I don’t lose Sir John himself into the bargain!
1850		Man of Pleasure’s Illus. Pocket-book n.p.: S’elp me squeeze !—send I may live !—hang me high up ! if it arn’t a Wild Street shickster.
1858		A. Mayhew Paved with Gold 260: Hang me if I can give her up.
1861		(con. 1840s–50s) H. Mayhew London Labour and London Poor (1968) III 137: I was tumbled down the steps among the mob, and hang me if they didn’t pitch into me too!
1863		T. Taylor Ticket-Of-Leave Man Act I: Hang me if I haven’t often thought of turning respectable.
1873		W.H. Thomes Slaver’s Adventures 18: Money moves the world, and men’s hearts; and hang me if I don’t wish that I had as much of it as would sink one of Uncle Sam’s seventy-fours.
1884		Ally Sloper’s Half Holiday 8 May 7/3: Hang it all, you know! Ugh!
1889		Lippincott’s Oct. 447: Hang me if she isn’t always on the plain, or at a hop, with one of those twin kids!
1892		H. Nisbet Bushranger’s Sweetheart 201: Hang me if he ain’t a greedy coon; he’s taking them [i.e. girls] both with him.
1893		J. Hawthorne Confessions of Convict 133: Hang me, boy, if that lady didn’t bow.
1907		Sun. Times (Perth) 8 Dec. 4/7: Hang me if one of the mob don’t run around and return ’em [i.e. a pair of stolen boots] to the bloke.
1914		E. Pugh Cockney At Home 163: ‘But ’ang me!’ he says, ‘if I’ll stand gin and onions!’.
1919		Marvel 1 Mar. 12: Hang me if you are worth your salt!
1922		E. Raymond Tell England (1965) 53: Here, hang me, Radley [...] you want examining.
1950		C. Harris Three-Ha’Pence to the Angel 20: A bloody fine welcome to give anybody! God ’ang me –!
2013		K. Sampson Killing Pool 189: The back window glides down and hang me if it isn’t Momo looking gradely serious.

a general excl. of surprise, annoyance or impatience; often abbr. to hanged!

1598		Jonson Every Man In his Humour III iv: ’Sblood, I’ll be hanged if they have not hid him in the house.
1606		Wily Beguiled 16: Ile be hangd, if ere mistresse Lelia will ha Peter Ploddall.
1607		Dekker & Webster Northward Hoe III i: Ile be hangd if she do not dub him.
1616		W. Haughton English-Men For My Money in Dodsley X (1875) V ii: I’ll be hanged if you lose that office.
c.1629		R. Brome The City Wit III i: I’ll be hang’d if this Doctor be not of her smock Counsell.
1633		Rowley A Match at Midnight IV i: If Iohn haue not told him, I’le be hang’d.
1644		Mercurius Fumigosus 1 7 June 4: I’ll be hanged if it be not a young Sparrow-Hawk.
1654		New Brawle 9: [They] found such sweet entertainment, that as long as one penny was left, they’d be hang’d ere go to sea again.
1663		Dryden Wild Gallant IV i: If ever man play’d with such cursed fortune, I’ll be hanged, and all for want of this damned ace – there’s your ten pieces, with a pox to you, for a rooking beggarly rascal as you are.
1677		‘The Batchelor’s Ballad’ in Ebsworth Roxburghe Ballads (1891) VII:2 335: If he tells you his mind, I’le be hang’d if you find / Him so zealous a lover.
1686		Behn The Lucky Chance IV i: So, I’ll be hanged if he do not tell me I’m a cuckold now. I see it in his eyes.
1697		Female Wits II i: I’ll be hanged if it don’t bring a swingeing audience on the third day.
1709		N. Ward The Rambling Fuddle-Caps 14: I’ll be hang’d if ’twill do the old Toast any hurt.
1716		J. Addison The Drummer II i: I’ll be hanged if this ghost be not one of Abigail’s familiars.
1722		S. Centlivre Artifice Act III: Now will I be hang’d if here isn’t a Pack of Strollers got into my House.
1732		Proceedings Old Bailey 5 July 169/2: I happen’d to go to Holder’s Cellar, and there I heard talk of this Robbery; and says I’ll be hang’d if these were not the 2 Men that I thought were going to fight.
1748		Smollett Roderick Random (1979) 36: The window was shut when we went to bed, I’ll be hanged, said she.
1756		W. Toldervy Hist. of the Two Orphans II 151: I’ll be hang’d said farmer Trout, if this good song was not made on a profligate gentleman.
1764		Foote The Lyar in Works (1799) I 283: I’ll be hanged if he is not too many for Monsieur Maubert.
1775		Sheridan The Rivals (1776) V i: You have been crying! – I’ll be hanged, if that Faulkland has been tormenting you!
1780		The New London Jester 109: I’ll be hanged if this bird has not swallowed the key of the cellar.
1794		Sporting Mag. Dec. V 160/1: ‘If you [defend yourself in court], you will be hanged.’ The reply was instantaneous -- ‘I’ll be hanged if I do.’.
1806		G. Colman Yngr John Bull II ii: I’ll be hanged if I didn’t cry like a child.
1814		I. Pocock John of Paris I i: I’ll be hanged if I know.
1821–5		‘Bill Truck’ Man o’ War’s Man (1843) 226: May I be hanged, lads [...] but this fairly beats cock-fighting.
1830		I. Pocock The Omnibus I i: If this isn’t another of that fellow’s precautions, I’ll be hanged!
1840		The Comic Almanack Nov. 244: ‘Isn’t he a nice young man?’ ‘I’m hanged if he ain’t,’ says Tug.
1854		Thackeray The Newcomes I 63: I’ll vote with him – hanged if I don’t.
1857		T. Hughes Tom Brown’s School-Days (1896) 113: I’ll be hanged if we’ll toss any one against their will – no more bullying.
1858		R.S. Surtees Ask Mamma 310: Open air be hanged!
1861		T. Hughes Tom Brown at Oxford (1880) 103: I’ll be hanged if I do. [Ibid.] 64: Can a fellow sing with a broken neck? [...] hanged if I know!
1866		C.H. Smith Bill Arp 49: Hanged if I know whether I’ve got my commission or my commission has me.
1873		W.H. Thomes A Slaver’s Adventures 47: ‘Run,’ I said, or you will be trampled to death in an instant.’ ‘Run be hanged,’ replied Murphy; ‘It’s going to drop dead in a minute.’.
1875		‘Aliph Cheem’ Lays of Ind (1905) 51: ‘But I’m hanged if I don’t think he’s cracked’.
1877		New Bloomfield PA Times (PA) 5 June 1/4: ‘Hanged if I won’t have to charge you extra,’ growled the clerk.
1880		Punch 10 Jan. 6: [...] I’ll be hanged if you shall ever measure me for another pair of bags!
1884		R. Hartranft The Journal of Solomon Sidesplitter 127: I’ll be hanged if I can tell!
1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 11 Apr. 10/1: Ah, what a Belshazzar burst we should launch out upon then! What suppers, where the wit should sparkle and the whisky flow, and the expense be hanged, we would give in those days!
1896		G.M. Fenn Sappers and Miners 20: Well, I’ll be hanged!
1898		Binstead & Wells A Pink ’un and a Pelican 149: We must get a bit today, Bob [...] though where to look for it I’m hanged if I know!
1900		Flynt & Walton The Powers That Prey 252: Well, I’ll be hanged!
1900		The Marvel XIV 3 July 347: No, I’ll be hanged if I do!
1903		A. Binstead Pitcher in Paradise 100: Hanged if I didn’t fancy you were getting spiffed.
1907		Chums 26 June 914: ‘Well, I’ll be hanged,’ growled the robber.
1913		The Marvel 9 Aug. 7: Hanged if I ever had such a jolly evening!
1914		C. Holme The Lonely Plough (1931) 159: But I’m hanged if she’s got my face! Deuced plain, I call her.
1920		The Marvel 10 April 18: ‘It – it slipped,’ faltered Dick. ‘Slipped be hanged!’.
1923		Wodehouse Inimitable Jeeves 144: I’m hanged if I can see Harold catching the judge’s eye.
1925		Wodehouse Carry on, Jeeves 97: I won’t do it! I can’t do it! I’ll be hanged if I’ll do it!
1936		(con. 1830s–60s) ‘Miles Franklin’ All That Swagger 194: ‘Was he drunk?’ ‘Hanged if I know.’.
1938		X. Herbert Capricornia (1939) 114: Well I’m hanged. How long’s this been going on?
1940		O. Strange Sudden Takes the Trail 104: Hanged if I thought you had it in you.
1942		Whizzbang Comics 58: But I’m hanged if I see what a ghost has got to do with Lew Wannagan.
1944		A. Kapelner Lonely Boy Blues (1965) 54: Well, I’ll be hung, swung and clubbed! That darlingest creature at the bar is the driver of that cunningest jeep!
1951		Schindler in Hamilton Men of the Und. 51: I’ll be hanged if he didn’t.