rest

Etymology 1

From Middle English rest, reste, from Old English ræst, from Proto-West Germanic *rastu, from Proto-Germanic *rastō, from Proto-Indo-European *ros-, *res-, *erH- (“rest”). Cognate with West Frisian rêst (“rest”), Dutch rust (“rest”), German Rast (“rest”), Swedish rast (“rest”), Norwegian rest (“rest”), Icelandic röst (“rest”), Old Irish árus (“dwelling”), German Ruhe (“calm”), Albanian resht (“to stop, pause”), Welsh araf (“quiet, calm, gentle”), Lithuanian rovà (“calm”), Ancient Greek ἐρωή (erōḗ, “rest, respite”), Avestan 𐬀𐬌𐬭𐬌𐬨𐬈 (aⁱrime, “calm, peaceful”), Sanskrit रमते (rámate, “he stays still, calms down”), Gothic 𐍂𐌹𐌼𐌹𐍃 (rimis, “tranquility”). Related to roo.

noun

1. (uncountable, of a person or animal) Relief from work or activity by sleeping; sleep.
   I need to get a good rest tonight; I was up late last night.
   The sun sets, and the workers go to their rest.
2. (countable) Any relief from exertion; a state of quiet and relaxation.
   We took a rest at the top of the hill to get our breath back.
3. (uncountable) Peace; freedom from worry, anxiety, annoyances; tranquility.
   It was nice to have a rest from the phone ringing when I unplugged it for a while.
4. (uncountable, of an object or concept) A state of inactivity; a state of little or no motion; a state of completion.
   The boulder came to rest just behind the house after rolling down the mountain.
   The ocean was finally at rest.
   Now that we're all in agreement, we can put that issue to rest.
5. (euphemistic, uncountable) A final position after death.
   She was laid to rest in the village cemetery.
6. (music, countable) A pause of a specified length in a piece of music.
   Remember there's a rest at the end of the fourth bar.
7. (music, countable) A written symbol indicating such a pause in a musical score such as in sheet music.
8. (physics, uncountable) Absence of motion.
   The body's centre of gravity may affect its state of rest.
9. (snooker, countable) A stick with a U-, V- or X-shaped head used to support the tip of a cue when the cue ball is otherwise out of reach.
   Higgins can't quite reach the white with his cue, so he'll be using the rest.
10. (countable) Any object designed to be used to support something else.
    She put the phone receiver back in its rest.
    He placed his hands on the arm rests of the chair.
11. A projection from the right side of the cuirass of armour, serving to support the lance.
12. A place where one may rest, either temporarily, as in an inn, or permanently, as, in an abode.
    c. 1851, Catholicus (pen name of John Henry Newman, letter in The Times halfway houses and travellers' rests
13. (poetry) A short pause in reading poetry; a caesura.
14. The striking of a balance at regular intervals in a running account. Often, specifically, the intervals after which compound interest is added to capital.
    a new account was opened under the heading "Irondale Mine" and so continued witli semiannual rest 1874, New York Court of Appeals, Records and Briefs
15. (dated) A set or game at tennis.

Etymology 2

From Middle English resten, from Old English restan, from Proto-West Germanic *rastijan (“to rest”), from Proto-Indo-European *ros-, *res-, *erH- (“rest”). Cognate with Dutch rusten (“to rest”), Middle Low German resten (“to rest”), German rasten (“to rest”), Danish raste (“to rest”), Swedish rasta (“to rest”).

verb

1. (intransitive) To cease from action, motion, work, or performance of any kind; stop; desist; be without motion.
2. (intransitive) To come to a pause or an end; end.
3. (intransitive) To be free from that which harasses or disturbs; be quiet or still; be undisturbed.
4. (intransitive, transitive, reflexive, copulative) To be or to put into a state of rest.
   My day's work is over; now I will rest.
   We need to rest the horses before we ride any further.
   I shall not rest until I have uncovered the truth.
   And thereby at a pryory they rested them all nyght. 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte d'Arthur, Book X
   With the north London derby to come at the weekend, Spurs boss Harry Redknapp opted to rest many of his key players, although he brought back Aaron Lennon after a month out through injury. September 29, 2011, Jon Smith, “Tottenham 3-1 Shamrock Rovers”, in BBC Sport
5. (intransitive) To stay, remain, be situated.
   The blame seems to rest with your father.
6. (transitive, intransitive, reflexive) To lean, lie, or lay.
   A column rests on its pedestal.
   I rested my head in my hands.
   She rested against my shoulder.
   I rested against the wall for a minute.
7. (intransitive, transitive, law, US) To complete one's active advocacy in a trial or other proceeding, and thus to wait for the outcome (however, one is still generally available to answer questions, etc.)
   The defense rests, your Honor.
   I rest my case.
8. (intransitive) To sleep; slumber.
9. (intransitive) To lie dormant.
10. (intransitive) To sleep the final sleep; sleep in death; die; be dead.
11. (intransitive) To rely or depend on.
    The decision rests on getting a bank loan.
    On him I rested, after long debate, / And not without considering, fixed fate. 1700, John Dryden, Sigismonda and Guiscardo
    Economics is a messy discipline: too fluid to be a science, too rigorous to be an art. Perhaps it is fitting that economists’ most-used metric, gross domestic product (GDP), is a tangle too.[…]But as a foundation for analysis it is highly subjective: it rests on difficult decisions about what counts as a territory, what counts as output and how to value it. Indeed, economists are still tweaking it. 2013-08-03, “Boundary problems”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8847
12. To be satisfied; to acquiesce.

Etymology 3

From Middle English reste, from Old French reste, from Old French rester (“to remain”), from Latin restō (“to stay back, stay behind”), from re- + stō (“to stand”). Replaced native Middle English lave (“rest, remainder”) (from Old English lāf (“remnant, remainder”)).

noun

1. (uncountable) That which remains.
   She ate some of the food, but was not hungry enough to eat it all, so she put the rest in the refrigerator to finish later.
2. Those not included in a proposition or description; the remainder; others.
   Plato and the rest of the philosophers 1676, Bishop Stillingfleet, A Defence of the Discourse Concerning the Idolatry Practised in the Church of Rome
   Arm'd like the rest, the Trojan prince appears.
   Shepard: The rest of the galaxy isn't just going to bow down just because we tell them to. We'll need the fleets to bring them in line. 2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Citadel
   It also showed that 26 of the top 30 AI patent requests came from businesses. Universities or public research organizations made up the rest. Audio (US) (file) 3 February 2019, “UN Study: China, US, Japan Lead World AI Development”, in Voice of America, archived from the original on 2019-02-07
3. (UK, finance) A surplus held as a reserved fund by a bank to equalize its dividends, etc.; in the Bank of England, the balance of assets above liabilities.

Etymology 4

From Middle English resten, from Old French rester, from Latin restō.

verb

1. (no object, with complement) To continue to be, remain, be left in a certain way.
   You can rest assured that a sick child will say when it's again ready to eat, so it won't starve and doesn't need to be cajoled into eating.
   Rest you merry. ("Be glad, be joyful"; later: "Good luck to you.")
2. (transitive, obsolete) To keep a certain way.
   God rest you merry, gentlemen. ("May God grant you happiness and peace, gentlemen"; literally: "May God keep you happy and in peace, gentlemen.")

Etymology 5

Aphetic form of arrest.

verb

1. (obsolete, transitive, colloquial) To arrest.