dangling
part of speech
verb, the -ing form of «dangle» (dangle, dangles, dangled, dangling); adjective (dangling)
meaning for a pupil
1) Dangling means hanging loosely and swinging, often from something above. tree →
2) Dangling something in front of someone means holding it out to tempt them. tree →
sense in the lessons
In everyday life it describes legs over a wall, earrings, keys, ropes and loose wires. Safety: dangling wires or cords can be dangerous; tell an adult. In stories it shows something hanging over a drop or a temptation. Phrases: «dangling from», «legs dangling», «keep someone dangling» (= keep waiting without an answer).
examples
- The monkey was dangling from a branch by its tail. tree →
- We sat on the pier with our legs dangling over the water. tree →
- A loose wire was dangling from the ceiling. tree →
- Her earrings were long and dangling. tree →
- He kept dangling the toy in front of the cat. tree →
- The spider was dangling on a thread. tree →
- Don't leave the blind cord dangling where a baby can reach it. tree →
- Suddenly he saw a beautiful ball, for all the world like his own, dangling from a branch of the tree he was on. tree →
note
Spelling: dangle drops «e» before -ing: «dangling». Safety: long dangling cords from blinds are a strangling danger for small children. Not a number word.
In the corpora
- Male proboscis monkeys have long dangling noses that make their calls louder, and proboscis monkeys swim well with partly webbed feet.
- An iron stays hot long after it is switched off, and a dangling cable can be pulled so that the iron falls.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «dangling» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.