To suspend or leave something in suspense; to end a story or episode without resolution.
From 'cliffhanger' (mid-20th century coinage from 'cliff' + 'hang') + '-ing' conversion to verb form. The backward formation shows how narrative convention created the verb from the noun.
'Cliffhang' emerged as a verb only after 'cliffhanger' became a cultural phenomenon—it's a reverse direction for word formation, where a noun gets converted back into its verb form, similar to how 'google' became a verb from a brand name.
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.