armistice

Etymology

From Late Latin armistitium, from Latin arma (“arms, weapons”) + sistēre (from sistō (“to halt, stand still”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- (“to stand up”)) + -ium (“suffix forming abstract nouns”). The word is cognate with French armistice, Italian armistizio, Portuguese armistício, Spanish armisticio.

noun

1. A (short) cessation of combat; a cease-fire, a truce.
   135. An armistice is the cessation of active hostilities for a period agreed upon between belligerents. It must be agreed upon in writing, and duly ratified by the highest authorities of the contending parties. 136. If an armistice be declared, without conditions, it extends no further than to require a total cessation of hostilities, along the front of both belligerents. 24 April 1863, Francis Lieber, “Instructions for the Government of Armies of the United States in the Field [General Order No. 100]”, in General Orders Affecting the Volunteer Force (Adjutant General’s Office; 1863), Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, published 1864, →OCLC, section VIII (Armistice—Capitulation), page 83
   It has also become routine to interrupt wars in more lasting fashion by imposing armistices. Again, unless directly followed by successful peace negotiations, armistices perpetuate the state of war indefinitely because they shield the weaker side from the consequences of refusing the concessions needed for peace. […] Armistices in themselves are not way stations to peace but rather frozen wars. 2002, Edward N[icolae] Luttwak, “The Coming Together of Opposites”, in Strategy: The Logic of War and Peace, revised and enlarged edition, Cambridge, Mass., London: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, published 2003 (2nd printing), part I (The Logic of Strategy), pages 59–60
2. A formal agreement, especially between nations, to end combat.
   The Fifth Volume of this Collection makes its appearance at the moſt eventful period of the war—it includes, therefore, matter of the higheſt importance, and contains all the official documents reſpecting the late Negotiation—the war between this country and Spain, the progreſs of the French arms in Italy and Germany—the armiſtices and treaties concluded with the German and Italian powers— […] 1797, “Preface”, in John Debrett, compiler, A Collection of State Papers, Relative to the War against France now Carrying on by Great Britain and the Several Other European Powers;[…], volume V, London: Printed for J[ohn] Debrett,[…], →OCLC
   The government of Great-Britain lost no time after the war was known, in making to our cabinet proposals for an armistice. Those proposals were like all propositions between equal states, perfectly reciprocal. They require of us to suspend hostilities only, in consideration of suspending hostilities on their part. They are silent as to impressments—and would any person inquire why? It may be answered, that impressments had never been presented to Great-Britain as in themselves the cause of war— […] 1813, [John Lowell Jr.], “No. IV. The Several Proposals for an Armistice Considered.”, in Perpetual War, the Policy of Mr. Madison.[…], Boston, Mass.: Printed by C[hester] Stebbins, →OCLC, page 17
   Twice during the last quarter of a century the same railway vehicle has provided the scene of the signature of an armistice between Germany and France, and this famous vehicle is at present in Berlin, where it was placed on public exhibition in the Lustgarten on March 23. 1941 July, “The Armistice Coach”, in Railway Magazine, page 316
   The day armistice was signed [chapter title] […] At five o'clock on the morning of 11 November 1918, a group of high-ranking German politicians and military officers entered a railway carriage in the Forest of Compiègne. They were met by delegates from the countries with which they had been at war. Three days earlier the French, British and Americans had prepared an armistice document which they demanded the Germans accept within three days. Inside the carriage the Germans signed the surrender document put before them. The document signalled that the war would stop in six hours' time, at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918. 2003, John Malam, “The Day Armistice was Signed”, in Mary-Jane Wilkins, editor, 11 November 1918: The World War I Armistice (Dates with History), London: CherrytreeBooks, Evans Brothers, pages 12–13