pause

Forms

1.To take a temporary rest, take a break for a short period after an effort.
2.To stop (an activity) for a while.
- The general public could therefore have been forgiven for thinking that work on the new station had stopped. But pausing work on an active construction site of this size is not straightforward.
3.To interrupt an activity and wait.
- When telling the scary story, he paused for effect.
- Tarry, pause a day or two.
4.To hesitate; to hold back; to delay.

1.A temporary stop or rest; an intermission of action; interruption; suspension; cessation.
- If the afternoon was fine they strolled together in the park, very slowly, and with pauses to draw breath wherever the ground sloped upward. The slightest effort made the patient cough.
2.A short time for relaxing and doing something else.
3.Hesitation; suspense; doubt.
4.In writing and printing, a mark indicating the place and nature of an arrest of voice in reading; a punctuation mark.
- Teach the pupil to mind the pauses.

Uncommon· #3289

From Middle French pause, from Latin pausa, from Ancient Greek παῦσις (paûsis), from Ancient Greek παύω (paúō, “stop”), of uncertain origin.

Doublet of pausa.