repose
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ɹɪˈpəʊz/
enpr: rĭ-pōzʹ
ipa: /ɹəˈpoʊz/
ipa: /ɹi-/
rhymes: -əʊz
Forms: form: reposes
form: reposing
form: reposed
form: reposed
form: no-table-tags
form: glossary
form: repose
form: repose
form: reposed
form: repose
form: reposest
form: reposed
form: reposedst
form: reposes
form: reposeth
form: reposed
form: repose
form: reposed
form: repose
form: reposed
form: repose
form: -
form: reposing
form: reposed
Etymology: The verb is derived from Middle English reposen (“to rest”), from Anglo-Norman reposer, reposir, and Middle French reposer, from Old French reposer, repauser (“to become calm; to be peaceful; to rest; to be immobile; to lie or be placed; to cease, stop; to neglect”) (modern French reposer), from Latin repausāre, the present active infinitive of repausō (“(Late Latin) to be at rest; to lie down, rest; to sleep; to calm, pacify; (Latin) to halt temporarily, pause”), from re- (prefix meaning ‘again; back, backwards’) + pausō (“to cease, halt; to pause”) (from pausa (“a halt, stop; a pause; an end”), from Ancient Greek παῦσῐς (paûsĭs, “ceasing, stopping”), from παύω (paúō, “to cease; to make to cease, stop; to bring to an end; to hinder”) (further etymology uncertain; possibly from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂w- (“few, little; smallness”)) + -σῐς (-sĭs, suffix forming abstract nouns or nouns of action, process, or result)).
The noun is derived from Late Middle English repose, from Anglo-Norman repous, repos, and Middle French repos, repose, from Old French repos (“calm; rest; period or state of sleep; state of immobility; state of inaction”) (modern French repos), from reposer, repauser (verb) (see above).
Noun sense 12.3 (“technique of including in a painting an area or areas which are dark, indistinct, or soft in tone”) is borrowed from French repos.
Cognates
Catalan reposar (verb), repòs (noun)
Italian riposare (verb), riposo (noun)
Old Occitan repausar, repauzar (verb), repaus (noun)
Portuguese repousar (verb), repouso (noun)
Spanish reposar (verb), reposo (noun)
Senses: examples: text: The Sea-god Glaucus […] Repoſd his head vpon my faintfull knée: […]
ref: 1589, Thomas Lodge, “The Most Pithie and Pleasant Historie of Glaucus and Silla”, in Scillaes Metamorphosis: Enterlaced with the Unfortunate Loue of Glaucus. […], London: […] Richard Jhones, […], →OCLC, signature A2, recto:
text: I could mock the ſultry Toil, / VVhen on my Charmer's Breaſt repos'd.
ref: 1728, [John] Gay, The Beggar’s Opera. […], London: […] John Watts, […], →OCLC, Act I, scene vi, page 17:
text: VVha's ain dear laſs, that he likes beſt, / Comes clinkin dovvn beſide him! / VVi' arm repos'd on the chair-back, / He ſvveetly does compoſe him; […]
ref: 1786, Robert Burns, “The Holy Fair”, in Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect. […], 2nd edition, volume I, Edinburgh: […] T[homas] Cadell, […], and William Creech, […], published 1793, →OCLC, stanza XI, page 42:
text: A hundred times hast thou said, when, wearied with thy labours and oppressed by thy troubles, thou reposedst thy head familiarly on my breast, 'Would that I could die in this bosom!'
ref: 1850, Thomas H[enry] Dyer, chapter XV, in The Life of John Calvin. […], London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, page 516:
text: [T]he eyes clos'd— / The lashes on the cheeks repos'd.
ref: 1852, [Matthew] A[rnold], “Tristram and Iseult. I. Tristram.”, in Empedocles on Etna, and Other Poems, London: B. Fellowes, […], page 126:
text: Mrs. Peters reposed her 200 pounds on the safer of the two chairs and gazed stolidly out the one window at the brick wall opposite.
ref: 1903–1906, O. Henry [pseudonym; William Sydney Porter], “The Harbinger”, in The Voice of the City, complete edition, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Doran & Company, published 1908, →OCLC, page 49:
glosses: To lay (someone, or part of their body) down to rest.
examples: text: Now may I repoſe me; Cuſtance is mine owne.
ref: c. 1552 (date written), Nicholas Udall, [Ralph Roister Doister], [London]: [s.n.], published 1566?; republished as Edward Arber, editor, Roister Doister. […] (English Reprints), London: Muir & Paterson, […], 24 July 1869, →OCLC, Act I, scene iiii, page 30:
text: In peace and honour reſt you here my ſonnes, / Roomes readieſt Champions, repoſe you here in reſt, / Secure from vvorldly chaunces and miſhaps: […]
ref: c. 1588–1593 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The Most Lamentable Romaine Tragedie of Titus Andronicus: […] (First Quarto), London: […] Iohn Danter, and are to be sold by Edward White & Thomas Millington, […], published 1594, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i], signature B, verso:
text: [T]he great Creator hath likevviſe ſignalized his Care and Skill, by giving Animals an architectonick Faculty, to build themſelves convenient places of Retirement, in vvhich to repoſe and ſecure themſelves, and to nurſe up their Young.
ref: 1713, W[illiam] Derham, “[A Survey of the Terraqueous Globe.] Of the Houses, and Habitations of Animals.”, in Physico-Theology: Or, A Demonstration of the Being and Attributes of God, from His Works of Creation. […], London: […] W[illiam] Innys, […], →OCLC, book IV (Of Animals in General), page 226:
glosses: To rest (oneself), especially by going to sleep.
examples: text: [A]lthough they ſeme as holidaymenne, to repoſe theymſelfes from all corporall buſineſſe: yet they dooe more good then the others, becauſe they doe the thyng moſt chiefly requiſite to be doen.
ref: 1549 February 10 (Gregorian calendar; indicated as 1548), Erasmus, “The Paraphrase of Erasmus vpon the Ghospell of S. Luke. The .x. Chapter.”, in Nicolas Udall [i.e., Nicholas Udall], transl., The First Tome or Volume of the Paraphrase of Erasmus vpon the Newe Testamente, London: […] Edwarde Whitchurche, →OCLC, folio cv, verso:
text: [S]he begged I vvould retire into a chamber, and repoſe myſelf from the uncommon fatigues I muſt have undergone; […]
ref: 1753, [Tobias Smollett], “The History of the Noble Castilian”, in The Adventures of Ferdinand Count Fathom. […], volume I, London: […] W. Johnston, […], →OCLC, page 175:
glosses: Followed by from or (obsolete) of: to cause (oneself) to take a rest from some activity; also, to allow (oneself) to recover from some activity.
examples: text: [H]ave ye chos'n this place / After the toyl of Battel to repoſe / Your wearied vertue, for the eaſe you find / To ſlumber here, as in the Vales of Heav'n?
ref: 1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 318–321:
text: VVhoſe Cauſe-vvay parts the vale vvith ſhady rovvs? / VVhoſe ſeats the vveary Traveller repoſe? / VVho feeds yon Alms-houſe, neat, but void of ſtate, / VVhere Age and VVant ſit ſmiling at the gate?
ref: 1733 (indicated as 1732), [Alexander] Pope, Of the Use of Riches, an Epistle to the Right Honourable Allen Lord Bathurst, London: […] J. Wright, for Lawton Gilliver […], →OCLC, page 13:
text: On the twentieth of June he [Johann de Kalb] entered North Carolina, and halted at Hillsborough to repose his wayworn soldiers.
ref: 1874, George Bancroft, “War in the South: Cornwallis and Gates. 1780.”, in History of the United States, from the Discovery of the American Continent, volume X (The American Revolution. Epoch Fourth Continued. […]), Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown and Company, →OCLC, page 315:
text: [D]istant banks of purple mist coloured the liquid plain with a cool green-blue, a celadon tint that reposed the eye and the brain.
ref: 1876, Richard F[rancis] Burton, “To Sánga-Tánga and Back”, in Two Trips to Gorilla Land and the Cataracts of the Congo. […], part I (The Gaboon River and Gorilla Land), London: Sampson Low, Marston, Low, and Searle, […], →OCLC, page 125:
glosses: To give (someone) rest; to refresh (someone) by giving rest.
examples: text: That he conſents, if VVarvvicke yeeld conſent, / For on thy fortune I repoſe my ſelfe.
ref: c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene vii], page 168, column 1:
text: I come to your houſe; I riſk my life; I paſs it in ennui; I repoſe myſelf on your fidelity; […]
ref: 1852, William Makepeace Thackeray, “Our Guest Quits Us as Not Being Hospitable Enough”, in The History of Henry Esmond, Esq. […] , volume III, London: […] Smith, Elder, & Company, […], →OCLC, page 277:
glosses: To cause (oneself) to have faith in or rely on someone or something.
glosses: To give (someone) accommodation for the night.
examples: text: Though then, the Lords deep VViſedome, to this day, / VVork in the VVorlds vncertain-certain Svvay: / Yet muſt vve credit that his hand compos'd / All in ſix Dayes, and that He then Repos'd; / By his example, giving vs beheſt, / On the Seaventh Day for evermore to Reſt.
ref: 1608, [Guillaume de Salluste] Du Bartas, “[Du Bartas His First Week, or Birth of the World: […].] The Seaventh Daie of the First Week.”, in Josuah Sylvester, transl., Du Bartas His Deuine Weekes and Workes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Humfrey Lownes [and are to be sold by Arthur Iohnson […]], published 1611, →OCLC, page 185:
text: If you be pleas'd, retire into my Cell, / And there repoſe, a turne or tvvo, […]
ref: 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i], page 15:
text: [H]is right Cheeke / Repoſing on a Cuſhion.
ref: 1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii], page 389, column 1:
text: Then the divine night came, and treading earth, / Close by the flood that had from Jove her birth, / Within a thicket I repos’d; […]
ref: 1614–1615, Homer, “The Seventh Book of Homer’s Odysseys”, in Geo[rge] Chapman, transl., Homer’s Odysses. […], London: […] Rich[ard] Field [and William Jaggard], for Nathaniell Butter, published 1615, →OCLC; republished in The Odysseys of Homer, […], volume I, London: John Russell Smith, […], 1857, →OCLC, page 165, lines 393–395:
text: Still is the toiling hand of Care: / The panting herds repoſe: / Yet hark, hovv thro' the peopled air / The buſy murmur glovvs!
ref: 1753, T[homas] Gray, “Ode”, in Designs by Mr. R[ichard] Bentley, for Six Poems by Mr. T. Gray, London: […] R[obert] Dodsley, […], →OCLC, page 2:
text: At night when I reposed, fair dreams did pass / Before my pillow;— […]
ref: 1817 December (indicated as 1818), Percy B[ysshe] Shelley, “Canto Fourth”, in Laon and Cythna; or, The Revolution of the Golden City: A Vision of the Nineteenth Century. […], London: […] [F]or Sherwood, Neely, & Jones, […]; and C[harles] and J[ames] Ollier, […]; by B[uchanan] M‘Millan, […], →OCLC, stanza XXXIII, page 91:
text: [T]heir materialism, which is the end of all their philosophy, induces them to say, "that the spirit of heaven reposeth in the sun, as the spirit of man reposeth in the eye"[…].
ref: 1831 May–August, [Karl Friedrich] Neumann, “Chinese Literature. Professor Neumann in Reply to MM. Kurz and [Julius] Klaproth.”, in The Asiatic Journal and Monthly Register for British and Foreign India, China, and Australasia, volume V (New Series), number 17, London: Parbury, Allen, and Co., […], →OCLC, page 231:
text: Her court was pure; her life serene; / God gave her peace; her land reposed; / A thousand claims to reverence closed / In her as Mother, Wife, and Queen; […]
ref: 1851 March, Alfred Tennyson, “To the Queen”, in The Complete Poetical Works of Alfred Tennyson, Chicago, Ill.: The Dominion Company, published 1897, →OCLC, page 2:
text: [T]hey saw a herd of deer reposing, who, on their appearance, rose from their recumbent position, and began to gaze warily at the strangers; then, tossing their horne, they set off on a stampede, but only swept round, and settled down not far from where they were.
ref: a. 1865 (date written), Nathaniel Hawthorne, chapter XVIII, in Julian Hawthorne, editor, Doctor Grimshawe’s Secret: A Romance […], Boston, Mass.: James R[ipley] Osgood and Company, published 1883, →OCLC, page 227:
text: For there may Slid repose beneath the sun and smile at the gods above him with all the smiles of Slid, and be a happier god than Those who sway the Worlds, whose work is Life and Death.
ref: 1905, Lord Dunsany [i.e., Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany], “The Sayings of Slid (whose Soul is by the Sea)”, in The Gods of Pegāna, London: [Charles] Elkin Mathews, […], →OCLC, pages 15–16:
glosses: To lean or recline, sit down, or lie down to rest; to rest.
examples: text: Simon reposed in the year 1287.
text: Lord Jesus, who at the hour of Compline reposedst in the tomb, and wast bewailed by thy most sorrowful Mother, and by other women; make us, we beseech thee, with true tears, to bewail thy most holy Passion, and never to give place to the things by which thou wouldst be crucified again.
ref: [1850], James Merlo Horstius, “Litany of the Life and Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ”, in [anonymous], transl., The Paradise of the Christian Soul, […], London: Burns & Lambert, […], →OCLC, part VI (On the Life and Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ), page 460, column 2:
glosses: To lean or recline, sit down, or lie down to rest; to rest.
To die, to rest in peace.
qualifier: chiefly Eastern Orthodoxy
raw_tags: of a saint
examples: text: a trap reposing on sand
text: On the table reposed a nut cake which she had baked that morning . . . a particularly toothsome concoction iced with pink icing and adorned with walnuts.
ref: 1909 September, L[ucy] M[aud] Montgomery, “Selling in Haste and Repenting at Leisure”, in Anne of Avonlea, Boston, Mass.: L[ouis] C[oues] Page & Company, →OCLC, page 22:
glosses: Followed by on or upon: of a thing: to lie or be physically positioned on something, especially horizontally; to rest on or be supported by something.
examples: text: [T]he grate did then unclose, / And on that reverend form the moonlight did repose.
ref: 1817 December (indicated as 1818), Percy B[ysshe] Shelley, “Canto Third”, in Laon and Cythna; or, The Revolution of the Golden City: A Vision of the Nineteenth Century. […], London: […] [F]or Sherwood, Neely, & Jones, […]; and C[harles] and J[ames] Ollier, […]; by B[uchanan] M‘Millan, […], →OCLC, stanza XXVIII, page 71:
text: For on such things the memory reposes / With tenderness,— […]
ref: 1819 July 15, [Lord Byron], Don Juan, London: […] Thomas Davison, […], →OCLC, canto II, stanza LVIII, page 148:
text: Here there was the brown, breezy sweep of surrounding fields for the eye to repose on; here the trees, leafless as they were, still varied the monotony of the prospect, and helped the mind to look forward to summer time and shade.
ref: 1859 November 26 – 1860 August 25, [William] Wilkie Collins, “Hartright’s Narrative”, in The Woman in White. […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, […], published 1860, →OCLC, part II, section VIII, page 206, column 2:
glosses: Followed by on or upon: of light, a look, etc.: to fall or rest (and often remain for a while) on something; to alight, to dwell.
examples: text: The ſoul repoſing on aſſur'd relief, / Feels herſelf happy amidſt all her grief, / Forgets her labour as ſhe toils along, / VVeeps tears of joy, and burſts into a ſong.
ref: 1781 (date written), William Cowper, “Truth”, in Poems, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], published 1782, →OCLC, page 96:
text: Lord Bolingbroke [Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke] may have publiſhed in French a ſketch of his Reflections on Exile: but his reputation novv repoſes on the addreſs of Voltaire, "Docte ſermones utriuſque linguæ;" and by his Engliſh dedication to Queen Caroline, and his Eſſay on Epic Poetry, it ſhould ſeem that Voltaire himſelf vviſhed to deſerve a return of the ſame compliment.
ref: a. 1795 (date written), Edward Gibbon, “Memoirs of My Life and Writings”, in John Lord Sheffield [i.e., John Baker Holroyd, 1st Earl of Sheffield], editor, Miscellaneous Works of Edward Gibbon, Esquire. […], volume I, London: […] A[ndrew] Strahan, and T[homas] Cadell Jun. and W[illiam] Davies, (successors to Mr. [Thomas] Cadell), […], published 1796, →OCLC, pages 93–94:
glosses: Followed by on or upon: to be based on; to depend or rely on.
examples: text: From the Leila and Majnun of Nizami. […] Thou wert agitated like the sand of the desert; but now thou reposest as the water of the lake.
ref: 1817 September 30, Vans Kennedy, “III. An Essay on Persian Literature.”, in Transactions of The Literary Society of Bombay, volume II, London: […] [Richard and Arthur Taylor] for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and John Murray, […], published 1820, →OCLC, page 92:
text: By the forests, lakes, and fountains / Thro' the many-folded mountains; / To the rents, and gulphs, and chasms, / Where the Earth reposed from spasms, […]
ref: 1818–1819 (date written), Percy Bysshe Shelley, “Prometheus Unbound”, in Prometheus Unbound […], London: C[harles] and J[ames] Ollier […], published 1820, →OCLC, Act II, scene i, pages 71–72:
glosses: To cease activity to rest or recover; also, to have a period free from activity or disturbance.
examples: text: I do deſire thy vvorthy company, / Vpon vvhoſe faith and honor, I repoſe.
ref: c. 1590–1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii], page 34:
text: In queſtions difficult or dangerous, it is indeed natural to repoſe upon authority, and, vvhen fear happens to predominate, upon the authority of thoſe vvhom vve do not generally think vviſer than ourſelves.
ref: 1751 July 13 (Gregorian calendar), Samuel Johnson, “No. 135. Tuesday, July 2. 1751.”, in The Rambler, volume VI, Edinburgh: […] Sands, Murray, and Cochran; sold by W. Gordon, C. Wright, J. Yair, […], published 1751, →OCLC, pages 23–24:
text: We can come home to nothing in our survey of human nature, but to the affections and moral emotions, which are not subservient; and are not governed by ulterior motives. It is upon these that the soul may repose.
ref: 1832, [Isaac Taylor], “The State of Souls”, in Saturday Evening. […], London: Holdsworth and Ball, →OCLC, pages 396–397:
glosses: To have faith in; to confide, to trust.
examples: text: [T]he Pebles, Pyritæ, Amber, or other like Nodules, vvhich happened to be repoſed in thoſe Cliffs, amongſt the Earth ſo beaten dovvn, being hard, and not ſo diſſoluble, and likevviſe more bulky and ponderous, are left behind upon the Shores, being impeded, and ſecured, by that their bulk and vveight, from being born along vvith the Terreſtrial Matter into the Sea.
ref: 1695, John Woodward, “Part IV. Of the Origin and Formation of Metalls and Minerals.”, in An Essay toward a Natural History of the Earth: And Terrestrial Bodies, Especially Minerals: […], London: […] Ric[hard] Wilkin […], →OCLC, page 220:
text: [H]er dark and deepening eyes, / Which, as twin phantoms of one star that lies / O'er a dim well, move, though the star reposes, / Swam in our mute and liquid ecstasies, […]
ref: 1817 December (indicated as 1818), Percy B[ysshe] Shelley, “Canto Sixth”, in Laon and Cythna; or, The Revolution of the Golden City: A Vision of the Nineteenth Century. […], London: […] [F]or Sherwood, Neely, & Jones, […]; and C[harles] and J[ames] Ollier, […]; by B[uchanan] M‘Millan, […], →OCLC, stanza XXXIII, page 144:
text: When the centuries behind me like a fruitful land reposed; / When I clung to all the present for the promise that it closed: […]
ref: 1835, Alfred Tennyson, “Locksley Hall”, in Poems. […], volume II, London: Edward Moxon, […], published 1842, →OCLC, page 93:
glosses: To lie still and unmoving.
Derived terms: english: partly
translation: partly
word: reappose
word: reposal
word: reposance
word: reposed
word: reposeful
word: reposefully
word: reposefulness
word: reposer
word: reposing
word: reposure