PAUSE

I. noun Etymology: Middle English, from Latin pausa, from Greek pausis, from pauein to stop Date: 15th century a temporary stop, 2. a break in a verse, a brief suspension of the voice to indicate the limits and relations of sentences and their parts, temporary inaction especially as caused by uncertainty ; hesitation , 4. the sign denoting a fermata, a mark (as a period or comma) used in writing or printing to indicate or correspond to a ~ of voice, a reason or cause for pausing (as to reconsider) , a function of an electronic device that ~s a recording, II. verb (~d; pausing) Date: 15th century intransitive verb to stop temporarily, to linger for a time, transitive verb to cause to ~ ; stop