Pause

Part of speech: noun (n.)

1. A temporary stop or rest; an intermission of action; interruption; suspension; cessation.

2. Temporary inaction or waiting; hesitation; suspence; doubt. I stand in pause where I shall first begin. Shak.

3. In speaking or reading aloud, a brief arrest or suspension of voice, to indicate the limits and relations of sentences and their parts.

4. In writing and printing, a mark indicating the place and nature of an arrest of voice in reading; a punctuation point; as, teach the pupil to mind the pauses.

5. A break or paragraph in writing. He writes with warmth, which usually neglects method, and those partitions and pauses which men educated in schools observe. Locke.

6. A hold. See 4th Hold, 7.

Synonyms: Stop; cessation; suspension.

Part of speech: verb (v.)

1. To make a short stop; to cease for a time; to intermit speaking or acting; to stop; to wait; to rest. "Tarry, pause a day or two." Shak. Pausing while, thus to herself she mused. Milton.

2. To be intermitted; to cease; as, the music pauses.

3. To hesitate; to hold back; to delay. [R.] Why doth the Jew pause Take thy forfeiture. Shak.

4. To stop in order to consider; hence, to consider; to reflect. [R.] "Take time to pause." Shak. To pause upon, to deliberate concerning. Shak.

Synonyms: intermit; stop; stay; wait; delay; tarry; hesitate; demur.

Part of speech: verb (v.)

To cause to stop or rest; -- used reflexively. [R.] Shak.