▪ I. henge1, hange
(hɛndʒ, hændʒ)
Now dial.
[An early form of hinge n. q.v., f. hang vb.]
The ‘pluck’ (heart, liver, etc.) of an animal.
| 1469 Househ. Ord. (1790) 96 Every sheepe to be brought in whoole, except the hedde and the henge. 1787 Grose Provinc. Gloss., Hanje, or Hange, the head, heart, liver and lights of any animal, called in Somersetshire the purtenance. 1888 Elworthy W. Somerset Word-bk., Hange, the pluck, i.e. the liver, lungs, and heart of any animal. In dressing sheep, the head is usually left attached by the windpipe; this is always called a ‘sheep's head and hange’. |
▪ II. henge2
(hɛndʒ)
[f. Stonehenge.]
1. In particular reference to the name Stonehenge: something ‘hanging’ or in suspense.
2. Archæol. A term (first applied by T. D. Kendrick) for classes of monuments more or less akin to the stone circle of Stonehenge. Also attrib.
| 1740 W. Stukeley Stonehenge ii. 8 Pendulous rocks are now called henges in Yorkshire, and I have been informed of another place there called Stonehenge, being natural rocks. So that I doubt not, Stonehenge in Saxon signifies the hanging stones. 1742 in Defoe Tour Gt. Brit. (ed. 3) I. v. 257 The present Name [sc. Stonehenge] is Saxon, tho' the Work is beyond all Comparison older, signifying a hanging Rod or Pole, i.e. a Gallows, from the hanging Parts, Architraves, or rather Imposts; and pendulous Rocks are still in Yorkshire called Henges. 1932 Kendrick & Hawkes Archæol. in Eng. & Wales vii. 83 (heading) The ‘henge’ monuments. 1936 Proc. Prehist. Soc. II. 1 A new monument of the ‘henge’ class. 1951 Field Archæol. (Ordnance Survey) (ed. 3) 17 The critical event in the modern study of ‘henges’ was the discovery of the site known as ‘Woodhenge’ from the air, two miles east-north-east of Stonehenge... The term henge monument..is an unsatisfactory term since, on strict etymological grounds, it should only be applied to sites which contain a ‘hanging’ element like the lintels of Stonehenge. 1967 Antiquaries Jrnl. XLVII. 166 The term ‘henge’ is applied to those monuments which enclose a circular or oval area by means of a bank and internal ditch and which possess one or two opposed entrances (Atkinson, Piggott, and Sandars, 1951, p. 82). |
▪ III. henge
obs. f. hinge; obs. inflexion of hang v.