respite

Pluralrespites

Formsrespites, respiting, respited

1. 1
   short breaknouncountable or uncountable

   A brief period of rest, or of relief from something unpleasant.

   The cool evening brought a brief respite from the summer heat wave.

   The storm battered the coast for three days without respite.

   Similarbreak, relief, pause, breather, recess

   Note

   Respect and this word are twins, both from Latin respectus; this one came through Old French respit, meaning rest. It counts (a brief respite, four days' respite) and also works as a mass noun (without respite), and it usually names what is being escaped with from: a respite from the heat, from the chatter. Brief and some are its habitual companions.

2. 2
   death sentencenouncountable

   A legal reprieve, especially one that suspends or delays the carrying out of a death sentence.

   Hours before the execution, the governor granted a respite while new evidence was reviewed.

   Under the new law, a death sentence cannot be carried out while a respite is in force.

   Similarreprieve, stay

   Note

   In legal use a respite is a pause rather than a pardon: the sentence still stands, but carrying it out is put off, often while an appeal or a plea for mercy is heard. The idea is old, since in Malory's Le Morte Darthur, printed in 1485, Sir Gawain urges Arthur to put the judgment of the queen in respite, and it survives in present-day capital-case law, where a president may order one.

3. 3
   put offverbtransitive

   To defer an event, putting it off until later.

   The board voted to respite the sale of the land until the survey was finished.

   The council respited the vote until more members could attend.

   Similarpostpone, delay, defer, suspend

4. 4
   give more timeverbtransitive

   To allow someone extra time to meet an obligation.

   The college will respite students who cannot pay their fees by the deadline.

   His creditors agreed to respite the merchant until his ships returned.

5. 5
   jury delaynouncountable

   A delay, granted to a jury, in appearing at court beyond the proper term.

   Because half the panel was ill, the judges allowed the jury a respite to the following term.

   The sheriff obtained a respite for the jurors when floods cut off the county town.

   Similarpostponement

   Note

   This was a procedural term for courts that sat in fixed terms. A jury summoned for one term could be put off to a later one, and the respite delayed their attendance rather than discharging them, so the same jurors still had to appear when the new date came.

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