hang fire

It 's one thing to say she 's a wife: you hang fire when it 's to say she 's my sister-in-law.'

If a dnouement seems to hang fire, hasten its progress by a thrashing.

Well, you see—such things are often apt to hang fire for a long time.

For Marianne seemed to hang fire and hesitate over her departure.

The answer was sharp, yet seemed, as soldiers say, to "hang fire" a second.

If Ashley were to hang fire you wouldn't know where the devil you were.

It seems to have that quality of mystery that belongs to all affairs of the kind when they hang fire.

His inventions seemed to hang fire until introduced into Lancashire, when they were adopted by a Mr. Peel, Arkwright and others.

If I put off writing the paper you asked me for, till I can do it conveniently, it may hang fire till this time next year.

We brushed up and watched the first signs of dawn through an open port; but the day seemed to hang fire.