- pause
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—pausal, adj. —pauseful, adj. —pausefully, adv. —pauseless, adj. —pauselessly, adv. —pauser, n. —pausingly, adv./pawz/, n., v., paused, pausing.n.1. a temporary stop or rest, esp. in speech or action: a short pause after each stroke of the oar.2. a cessation of activity because of doubt or uncertainty; a momentary hesitation.3. any comparatively brief stop, delay, wait, etc.: I would like to make a pause in my talk and continue after lunch.4. a break or rest in speaking or reading to emphasize meaning, grammatical relation, metrical division, etc., or in writing or printing by the use of punctuation.5. Pros. a break or suspension, as a caesura, in a line of verse.6. Music. a fermata.7. give pause, to cause to hesitate or be unsure, as from surprise or doubt: These frightening statistics give us pause.v.i.8. to make a brief stop or delay; wait; hesitate: He paused at the edge of the pool for a moment. I'll pause in my lecture so we can all get some coffee.9. to dwell or linger (usually fol. by on or upon): to pause upon a particular point.[1400-50; (n.) ME < L pausa < Gk paûsis a halt, equiv. to paú(ein) to stop + -sis -SIS; (v.) deriv. of the n.]
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Universalium. 2010.
