colgar

A common everyday verb covering both the literal "to hang" (colgar un cuadro, colgar la ropa) and, extended from the old motion of hanging up a phone receiver, "to hang up" a call — colgar el teléfono or simply colgar a alguien. It also does duty in modern digital Spanish for "to post/upload" content online: colgar una foto en redes sociales.

• Voy a colgar este cuadro en la pared. — I'm going to hang this picture on the wall.
• Me colgó el teléfono sin decir nada. — She hung up on me without saying anything.
• Colgó las fotos del viaje en Instagram. — She posted the trip photos on Instagram.

Learners sometimes reach for cortar for "hang up (a call)," which works in some Latin American countries but sounds off in Spain, where colgar is the default; both are understood, but colgar is the safer general choice.

• song Colgando en tus manos — 2008 duet by Venezuelan singer Carlos Baute and Spanish singer Marta Sánchez; it opened 2009 at #1 in Spain and set the record for most consecutive weeks at #1 there (29 weeks).
• expression Colgar los guantes — Fixed idiom meaning "to retire" from a career, especially a sporting one — from boxers hanging up their gloves for good at the end of their career.