— 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 pausa paûsis a halt, equiv. to paú ( ein ) to stop + -sis -SIS; (v.) deriv. of the n. ]
Syn. 1-3. suspension, interruption, break, halt; hiatus, lacuna. 8. rest. 9. tarry, delay.