• Rest

    Pronunciation

    • enPR: rÄ•st, IPA: /ɹɛst/
    • Rhymes: -É›st
    • Homophones: wrest

    Origin 1

    From Middle English rest, reste, from Old English rest, ræst ("rest, quiet, freedom from toil, repose, sleep, resting-place, a bed, couch, grave"), from Proto-Germanic *rastō, *rastijō ("rest"), from Proto-Indo-European *ros-, *res-, *erH- ("rest"). Cognate with West Frisian rêst ("rest"), Dutch rust ("rest"), German Rast ("rest"), Swedish rast ("rest"), Norwegian rest ("rest"), Icelandic röst ("rest"), Old Irish árus ("dwelling"), German Ruhe ("calm"), Albanian resht ("to stop, pause"), Welsh araf ("quiet, calm, gentle"), Lithuanian rovà ("calm"), Ancient Greek ἐρωή (erōē, "rest, respite"), Avestan (airime, "calm, peaceful"), Sanskrit रमते (rámate, "he stays still, calms down"), Gothic 𐍂𐌹𐌼𐌹𐍃 (rimis, "tranquility"). Related to roo.

    Full definition of rest

    Noun

    rest

    (countable and uncountable; plural rests)
    1. (uncountable, of a person or animal) Relief from work or activity by sleeping; sleep.I need to get a good rest tonight; I was up late last night.The sun sets, and the workers go to their rest.
    2. (countable) Any relief from exertion; a state of quiet and relaxation.We took a rest at the top of the hill to get our breath back.
    3. (uncountable) Peace; freedom from worry, anxiety, annoyances; tranquility.It was nice to have a rest from the phone ringing when I unplugged it for a while.
      • Bible, Judges iii. 30And the land had rest fourscore years.
    4. (uncountable, of an object or concept) A state of inactivity; a state of little or no motion; a state of completion.The boulder came to rest just behind the house after rolling down the mountain.The ocean was finally at rest.Now that we're all in agreement, we can put that issue to rest.
    5. (euphemistic, uncountable) A final position after death.She was laid to rest in the village cemetery.
    6. (music, countable) A pause of a specified length in a piece of music.Remember there's a rest at the end of the fourth bar.
    7. (music, countable) A written symbol indicating such a pause in a musical score such as in sheet music.
    8. (physics, uncountable) Absence of motion.The body's centre of gravity may affect its state of rest.
    9. (snooker, countable) A stick with a U-, V- or X-shaped head used to support the tip of a cue when the cue ball is otherwise out of reach.Higgins can't quite reach the white with his cue, so he'll be using the rest.
    10. (countable) Any object designed to be used to support something else.She put the phone receiver back in its rest.He placed his hands on the arm rests of the chair.
    11. A projection from the right side of the cuirass of armour, serving to support the lance.
      • Drydentheir visors closed, their lances in the rest
    12. A place where one may rest, either temporarily, as in an inn, or permanently, as, in an abode.
      • J. H. Newmanhalfway houses and travellers' rests
      • Miltonin dust our final rest, and native home
      • Bible, Deuteronomy xii. 9Ye are not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance which the Lord your God giveth you.
    13. (poetry) A short pause in reading poetry; a caesura.
    14. The striking of a balance at regular intervals in a running account.
      • AbbottAn account is said to be taken with annual or semiannual rests.
    15. (dated) A set or game at tennis.

    Synonyms

    Antonyms

    Hypernyms

    • (snooker: stick used to support the tip of the cue when the cue ball is out of reach) bridge

    Hyponyms

    Derived terms

    Terms derived from the above senses of rest

    Origin 2

    From Middle English resten, from Old English restan ("to rest, cease from toil, be at rest, sleep, rest in death, lie dead, lie in the grave, remain unmoved or undisturbed, be still, rest from, remain, lie"), from Proto-Germanic *rastijanÄ… ("to rest"), from Proto-Indo-European *ros-, *res-, *erH- ("rest"). Cognate with Dutch rusten ("to rest"), Middle Low German resten ("to rest"), German rasten ("to rest"), Danish raste ("to rest"), Swedish rasta ("to rest").

    Verb

    1. (intransitive) To cease from action, motion, work, or performance of any kind; stop; desist; be without motion.
      • Bible, Exodus xxiii. 12Six days thou shalt do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt rest.
    2. (intransitive) To come to a pause or an end; end.
    3. (intransitive) To be free from that which harasses or disturbs; be quiet or still; be undisturbed.
      • MiltonThere rest, if any rest can harbour there.
    4. (intransitive, transitive, reflexive) To be or to put into a state of rest.
    5. My day's work is over; now I will rest.   We need to rest the horses before we ride any further.   I shall not rest until I have uncovered the truth.   Rest assured that I will do my best.
      • 2011, September 29, Jon Smith, Tottenham 3-1 Shamrock Rovers, With the north London derby to come at the weekend, Spurs boss Harry Redknapp opted to rest many of his key players, although he brought back Aaron Lennon after a month out through injury.
    6. (intransitive) To stay, remain, be situated.
      The blame seems to rest with your father.
    7. (transitive, intransitive, reflexive) To lean, lie, or lay.A column rests on its pedestal.
      I rested my head in my hands.   She rested against my shoulder.   I rested against the wall for a minute.
    8. (intransitive, transitive, legal, US) To complete one's active advocacy in a trial or other proceeding, and thus to wait for the outcome (however, one is still generally available to answer questions, etc.)
      The defense rests, your Honor.   I rest my case.
    9. (intransitive) To sleep; slumber.
    10. (intransitive) To lie dormant.
    11. (intransitive) To sleep the final sleep; sleep in death; die; be dead.
    12. (intransitive) To rely or depend on.
      • DrydenOn him I rested, after long debate,
        And not without considering, fixed fate.
      • 2013-08-03, Boundary problems, Economics is a messy discipline: too fluid to be a science, too rigorous to be an art. Perhaps it is fitting that economists’ most-used metric, gross domestic product (GDP), is a tangle too....But as a foundation for analysis it is highly subjective: it rests on difficult decisions about what counts as a territory, what counts as output and how to value it. Indeed, economists are still tweaking it.
    13. The decision rests on getting a bank loan.
    14. To be satisfied; to acquiesce.
      • Addisonto rest in Heaven's determination

    Synonyms

    Troponyms

    Derived terms

    Pronunciation

    • enPR: rÄ•st, IPA: /ɹɛst/
    • Rhymes: -É›st

    Origin 3

    Middle English reste, from Old French reste from Old French rester ("to remain") from Latin restare ("to stay back, stay behind") from - + stare (to stand). Replaced native Middle English lave ("rest, remainder") (from Old English lāf ("remnant, remainder")).

    Noun

    rest

    (uncountable)
    1. (uncountable) That which remains.She ate some of the food, but was not hungry enough to eat it all, so she put the rest in the refrigerator to finish later.
    2. Those not included in a proposition or description; the remainder; others.
      • Bishop StillingfleetPlato and the rest of the philosophers
      • DrydenArmed like the rest, the Trojan prince appears.
    3. (UK, finance) A surplus held as a reserved fund by a bank to equalize its dividends, etc.; in the Bank of England, the balance of assets above liabilities.

    Synonyms

    Derived terms

    Verb

    1. (obsolete) To remain.

    Origin 4

    Aphetic form of arrest.

    Verb

    1. (obsolete) To arrest.

    Anagrams

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