Repose

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -əʊz

Origin

From Middle English, from Old French, from Medieval Latin repausare ("to lay at rest, quiet, also nourish, intransitive to be at rest, rest, repose"), from Latin re- ("again") + pausare ("to pause, rest"), from pausa ("pause"), from Ancient Greek παῦσις (pausis).

Full definition of repose

Noun

1. (dated) rest, sleep
• 1908, Kenneth Grahame, Dark and deserted as it was, the night was full of small noises, song and chatter and rustling, telling of the busy little population who were up and about, plying their trades and vocations through the night till sunshine should fall on them at last and send them off to their well-earned repose.
• Orwell Animal Farm|6You would not rob us of our repose, would you, comrades? You would not have us too tired to carry out our duties?
2. quietness, ease; peace, calmness
• Dante Divine Comedy|Inferno, Canto 10So may thy lineage find at last repose I thus adjured him
3. (geology) period between eruptions of a volcano.

Synonyms

Verb

1. To lie at rest; to rest.
• ChapmanWithin a thicket I reposed.
2. To lie; to be supported.trap reposing on sand
3. To lay, to set down.
• ChapmanBut these thy fortunes let us straight repose
  In this divine cave's bosom.
• WoodwardPebbles reposed in those cliffs amongst the earth ... are left behind.
4. To place, have, or rest; to set; to entrust.
• ShakespeareThe king reposeth all his confidence in thee.
5. To reside in something.
6. (figuratively) To remain or abide restfully without anxiety or alarms.
• I. TaylorIt is upon these that the soul may repose.