hang fire vs suspend

hang fire

verb
  • To wait or hold back. 

  • To fail to fire immediately when the trigger is pulled. 

noun
  • The situation when a gun does not immediately fire when the trigger is pulled, but may fire shortly after. 

suspend

verb
  • To halt something temporarily. 

  • To bring a solid substance, usually in powder form, into suspension in a liquid. 

  • To discontinue or interrupt a function, task, position, or event. 

  • To remove the value of an unused coupon from an air ticket, typically so as to allow continuation of the next sectors' travel. 

  • To hold in an undetermined or undecided state. 

  • To hang freely; underhang. 

  • To support in a liquid, as an insoluble powder, by stirring, to facilitate chemical action. 

  • To debar, or cause to withdraw temporarily, from any privilege, from the execution of an office, from the enjoyment of income, etc. 

How often have the words hang fire and suspend occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )