different between straphanger vs straphang

English

Etymology

strap +? hanger

Noun

straphanger (plural straphangers)

1. A person who travels using public transportation (often standing up and holding on to a strap).
   • 1970, Saul Bellow, Mr. Sammler’s Planet, Greenwich, CT: Fawcett, 1971, Chapter 1, p. 8,^[1]

     For several days, Mr. Sammler returning on the customary bus late afternoons from the Forty-second Street Library had been watching a pickpocket at work […] Mr. Sammler if he had not been a tall straphanger would not with his one good eye have seen these things happening.

   • 2008, William Neuman, "$1 Billion Later, Subway Elevators Still Fail," New York Times, 19 May (retrieved 16 Nov. 2009):

     The number of elevators has grown significantly since 1990, when the Americans With Disabilities Act set off a transformation of the aging transit system. For the disabled, the changes promised to open doors, while thousands of other straphangers—parents with strollers, older travelers—expected a small dose of convenience in a wearying city.

Related terms

• straphang

References

• straphanger at OneLook Dictionary Search

English

Etymology

strap +? hang

Verb

straphang (third-person singular simple present straphangs, present participle straphanging, simple past and past participle straphung)

1. (intransitive) To ride public transport while standing and holding onto a strap.

Alternative forms

• strap-hang

Related terms

• straphanger