hangout

[ hang-out ]

noun

, Informal.

1. a place where people gather for casual socializing or recreation:

   The pub is an ultracasual hangout, mostly frequented by undergraduates from the local university.

2. a place that a person frequently visits, especially for socializing or recreation:

   The record store was one of my favorite neighborhood hangouts when I was a kid.

verb phrase

1. to lean or be suspended through an opening:

   If you hang out the window that far, you're likely to fall right out!

2. to suspend in open view; display:

   Her family hangs out the flag every day, not just on holidays.

3. Informal. to frequent a particular place, especially in one's free time:

   We’ve all got friends who would rather hang out at a bookstore with a glass of wine than go clubbing.

4. Informal. to linger or loiter somewhere:

   We’ve got nothing better to do, so we’ll probably just hang out.

5. Informal. to spend time with someone:

   I’d love the chance to hang out with some like-minded folks.

6. Informal. to wait, especially briefly:

   Hang out a minute while I get my backpack.

7. Slang. to calm down:

   Hang out, Mom, I'm OK.

Word History and Origins

Origin of hangout¹

An Americanism dating back to 1850–55; noun use of verb phrase hang out

Example Sentences

It specifies hangout experiences as games where "the primary theme or purpose" is to allow people to communicate with each other as themselves, rather than role-playing as a character.

From BBC

So she gets dressed — “you can’t just be walking around here in an old funky T-shirt,” she tells herself — and heads to an unusual hangout tucked into a Sunset Boulevard office building.

From Los Angeles Times

In the morning Omura picked up client Karen Ford at her hangout at a mini-mall and drove her to an SRO in Wilmington.

From Los Angeles Times

That’s when he met fellow musicians at the legendary Hollywood music shop Stein on Vine, where he hosted a jazz workshop he called the Harmony Club, for the New York musician hangout where he’d been a janitor.

From Los Angeles Times

Which is to say, “Shrinking” has settled into the salving vibe of a hangout comedy, what with Jimmy’s workplace and neighborhood families of choice comfortably overlapping without sacrificing the therapeutic spaces that make it distinct.

From Salon

Related Words

• haunt
• watering hole