hang over

hang over (third-person singular simple present hangs over, present participle hanging over, simple past and past participle hung over)

1. (transitive) To be threatening, to be imminent.

   A shadow of doubt hung over my academic future.

   • 1941 August, C. Hamilton Ellis, “The English Station”, in Railway Magazine, page 358:

     Now, cramped and outclassed as Euston has become, rebuilding hangs over it with an awful inevitability.

   • 2021 January 13, Christian Wolmar, “Read all about London's Cathedrals of Steam”, in RAIL, issue 922, page 63:

     There was, though, on that April day, a cloud hanging over what should have been an entirely optimistic story. London was deep in the first lockdown and the stations were all but empty.

2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see hang,‎ over.
   • 2025 February 19, Paul Clifton, “I am absolutely committed to reforming the railway”, in RAIL, number 1029, page 39:

     Peter, Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill, of Imber, dressed all in black as usual, sits at the head of the table. A crumpled and well-used orange vest hangs over the back of his chair.

• overhang