suspend
Definitions
General English
General Science
- verb to hold particles in a liquid or in air
Aviation
- verb to hang freely from a point
Computing
- noun a command that is used when running Windows on a battery-powered laptop computer to shut down almost all of the electronic components of the laptop
Law
- verb to stop something happening for a period of time
- verb to stop someone working for a period of time
- verb to punish a student by refusing to allow him or her to attend school or college
Origin & History of “suspend”
To suspend something is etymologically to ‘hang it up’. The word comes via Old French suspendre from Latin suspendere ‘hang up’, a compound verb formed from the prefix sub- ‘up from under’, hence ‘up’, and pendere ‘hang’ (source of English depend, pendent, etc). The metaphorical sense ‘delay’ developed in Latin.
