hanger-on

Definition

Someone who hangs on, or sticks to, a person, place, or service.

Etymology

Agent noun of hang on.

Example Sentences

• "Her love was sought, I do aver, / By twenty beaux and more; / The king himself has follow'd her / When she has walk'd before. / But now her wealth and finery fled, / Her hangers-on cut short all […]"
• "Not that he was what is commonly called a Screw; that is to say he was not a mere screw; but he was acute and malicious; saw everybody's worth and position at a glance; could not bear to expend his choice wines and costly viands on hangers-on and toadeaters, though at the same time no man encouraged and required hangers-on and toadeaters more."
• "The Rhymney (51 route miles), once an impecunious hanger-on of the Taff Vale, had enjoyed its own route through Caerphilly into Cardiff since 1871, [...]."