ppl. a.
1. a. Furnished with large pendent organs.
1611. Cotgr., Oreillé, eared; well hung, or hangd; which hath great eares.
1681. Dryden, Abs. & Achit., I. 574. In the name of Dulness be The well-hung Balaam and cold Caleb free.
1823. Egan, Grose’s Dict. Vulg. T.
b. Decorated with rich hangings or tapestry.
a. 1667. Cowley, Ess. Verse & Pr., i. (1906), 389. A painted Cage; Or the false Forest of a well-hung Room.
2. Of the tongue: Working readily and freely; glib, fluent.
1678. Quack’s Acad., 6. If niggardly Nature or more penurious Education have not afforded you a Tongue well hung.
1790. J. Fisher, Poems, 57. Be sure to keep a well hung tongue, Your knav’ry to defend.
1853. Hickie, Aristoph. (1872), II. 576. Thou well-hung tongue.
3. Suspended or attached so as to hang well. Said, e.g., of a window-sash, a carriage, a gate, a lady’s skirt.
1762. Sterne, Tr. Shandy, V. xvii. Susannah did not consider that nothing was well hung in our family,—so slap came the sash down like lightning upon us.
1771. Smollett, Humphry Cl., 26 June. The carriage is remarkably commodious and well hung.
1847. Surtees, Hawbuck Grange, xi. 224. Some well-hung green gates, and better cultivated land, betokened prosperity.
1847. Mrs. Gore, Castles in Air, I. x. 204. The light, easy, well-hung, well-finished barouche.
1896. Daily News, 4 July, 6/3. Nothing is fresher or prettier than a well-hung skirt of white or cream colour.
4. Of meat or game: Hung up for a sufficient time.
1877. Cassell’s Dict. Cookery, 1079/2. Well-hung four-year-old mutton. Ibid., 1080/1. A fine, well-hung neck of venison.
