A.Word.A.Day --surcease

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surcease

PRONUNCIATION:

(suhr-SEES)

MEANING:

noun: Stoppage, especially a temporary one.
verb tr., intr.: To bring or come to an end.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Middle English sursesen/surcesen, via French from Latin supersedere (to refrain from), from super- + sedere (to sit). Ultimately from the Indo-European root sed- (to sit) that is also the source of sit, chair, saddle, assess, assiduous, sediment, soot, cathedral, and tetrahedron. The word cease is unrelated, though its spelling has influenced the word.

USAGE:

"It was a labour without rest or surcease."
Canon Kik Woods; The Daily Telegraph (London, UK); Jan 16, 2008.

See more usage examples of surcease in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

The animal shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complete than ours, they move finished and complete, gifted with extension of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren; they are not underlings; they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendor and travail of the earth. -Henry Beston, naturalist and author (1888-1968)

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