break

From Middle English breken, from Old English brecan (“to break”), from Proto-West Germanic *brekan, from Proto-Germanic *brekaną (“to break”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰreg- (“to break”). The word is a doublet of bray.
Cognates
Cognates of Germanic origin include Scots brek (“to break”), West Frisian brekke (“to break”), Dutch breken (“to break”), Low German breken (“to break”), German brechen (“to break”), French broyer (“to crush, grind”), Gothic 𐌱𐍂𐌹𐌺𐌰𐌽 (brikan, “to break, destroy”), Norwegian brek (“desire, yearning”).
Also cognate with Albanian brishtë (“fragile”), Latin frangō (“break, break up, shatter”, verb), whence English fracture and other terms – fragile, frail, fraction, and fragment.

cog

(UK, education) A time for students to talk or play between lessons.

winter break, spring break

A scheduled interval of days or weeks between periods of school instruction; a holiday.

Let’s take a five-minute break.


spell

en-verb

spell (third-person singular simple present spells, present participle spelling, simple past and past participle spelled or spelt)

spells (present singular third-person)
spelling (participle present)
spelled (participle past)
spelled (past)
spelt (participle past)
spelt (past)

From Middle English spelen, from Old English spelian (“to represent, take or stand in the place of another, act as a representative of another”), akin to Middle English spale (“a rest or break”), Old English spala (“representative, substitute”).

cog

They spelled the horses and rested in the shade of some trees near a brook.

(transitive) To rest (someone or something), to give someone or something a rest or break.


wind

en-verb

wind (third-person singular simple present winds, present participle winding, simple past and past participle winded or (proscribed) wound)

winds (present singular third-person)
winding (participle present)
winded (participle past)
winded (past)
wound (participle past proscribed)
wound (past proscribed)

⇒ Tok Pisin: winim

From Middle English wynd, wind, from Old English wind (“wind”), from Proto-West Germanic *wind, from Proto-Germanic *windaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂wéh₁n̥tos (“wind”), from earlier *h₂wéh₁n̥ts (“wind”), derived from the present participle of *h₂weh₁- (“to blow”).
Cognates
Cognate with Dutch wind, German Wind, West Frisian wyn, Norwegian and Swedish vind, Icelandic vindur, Latin ventus, Welsh gwynt, Sanskrit वात (vā́ta), Russian ве́тер (véter), perhaps Albanian bundë (“strong damp wind”). Doublet of athlete, vent, weather and nirvana.

lyödä ilmat pihalle

verb can be substituted for something else

(transitive) To rest (a horse, etc.) in order to allow the breath to be recovered; to breathe.


lounge

lounge (third-person singular simple present lounges, present participle lounging, simple past and past participle lounged)

lounges (present singular third-person)
lounging (participle present)
lounged (participle past)
lounged (past)

Origin uncertain. Perhaps from French s’allonger (“to lie down”). Compare French longer (“to walk along”). Compare also German lungern (“to hang or lounge around, linger”).

cog

We like to spend our Sundays lounging about at home in our pyjamas.

We lounge over the sciences, dawdle through literature, yawn over politics.

1854, J. Hannay, Singleton Fontenoy, R.N:

Everybody knows they have times when they wanna just lay back / Kick their feet up, y'know / Listen to some good music and just lounge / That's right, I said lounge

1993, “Loungin'”, in Guru's Jazzmatazz, Vol. 1, performed by Guru ft. Donald Byrd:

On Professor Solanka’s street, well-heeled white youths lounged in baggy garments on roseate stoops, stylishly simulating indigence while they waited for the billionairedom that would surely be along sometime soon.

2001, Salman Rushdie, Fury: A Novel, London: Jonathan Cape, →ISBN, page 4:

(intransitive) To relax; to spend time lazily; to stand, sit, or recline, in an indolent manner.


veg

en-verb

veg (third-person singular simple present vegs or vegges or veges, present participle vegging or veging, simple past and past participle vegged or veged)

vegs (present singular third-person)
vegges (present singular third-person)
veges (present singular third-person)
vegging (participle present)
veging (participle present)
vegged (participle past)
vegged (past)
veged (participle past)
veged (past)

Clipping of various related words including vegetable, vegetarian, and vegetate.

After working hard all week, I decided to stay home and veg on Saturday.

And he just sits and vegges on the TV, munches nachos, whatever.

2002, Jonathan Kellerman, Flesh and Blood, →ISBN, page 7:

(colloquial) to vegetate; to engage in complete inactivity; to rest


rest

en-noun

rest (countable and uncountable, plural rests)

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.

rest

stick used to support the cue in snooker

We took a rest at the top of the hill to get our breath back.

(countable) Any relief from exertion; a state of quiet and relaxation.

راحة

relief from exertion; state of quiet and recreation


quiescent

en-adj

quiescent (comparative more quiescent, superlative most quiescent)

more quiescent (comparative)
most quiescent (superlative)

Borrowed from Latin quiēscēns (“resting, reposing, sleeping”), present participle of quiēscere, from quiēs (“rest, repose, quiet”).

bor

(inactive):

(quiet, at rest):

The bats were quiescent at that time of day, so we slowly entered the cave.

In times of national security, the feeling of Patriotism among the masses is so quiescent that it seems hardly to exist—in their case national glory or national danger awakens it, and it leaps up armed cap-a-pie.

1840, John Wilson, “On the Genius and Character of Burns”, in John Wilson; Robert Chambers, The Land of Burns, a Series of Landscapes and Portraits, Illustrative of the Life and Writings of the Scottish Poet. The Landscapes from Paintings made Expressly for the Work, by D[avid] O[ctavius] Hill, Esq., R.S.A. The Literary Department, by Professor Wilson, of the University of Edinburgh; and Robert Chambers, Esq., Author of the “Scottish Biographical Dictionary,” “Picture of Scotland,” Etc. Etc., volume II, 2nd edition, Glasgow: Blackie & Son, Queen Street, Glasgow; South College Street, Edinburgh; and Warwick Square, London, OCLC 314762618, page ci

After all, nations are pouring massive resources into military applications of AI, and many citizens don’t know or don’t care. Yet that quiescent attitude may change over time, as the domestic use of AI surveillance ratchets up, and that technology is increasingly identified with shadowy apparatuses of control, rather than democratically accountable local powers.

2020 October 15, Frank Pasquale, “‘Machines set loose to slaughter’: the dangerous rise of military AI”, in The Guardian:


lull

From Middle English lullen, lollen. Originally, perhaps expressive in origin from la-la-la or lu-lu-lu sounds made in calming a child. Compare Finnish laulaa (“to sing”) and Hiligaynon lala (“to sing a lullaby”).
Cognate with Scots lul, lule, loll (“to lull, put to sleep, howl, caterwaul”), Dutch lollen (“to sing badly, caterwaul”), Dutch lullen (“to chatter, prate, cheat, deceive”), Low German lullen (“to lull”), German lullen (“to lull”), Danish lulle (“to lull, sing to sleep”), Swedish lulla (“to lull”), Icelandic lúlla (“to lull”).

onomatopoeic

expressive


hang out

en-verb

hang out (third-person singular simple present hangs out, present participle hanging out, simple past and past participle hung out)

hangs out (present singular third-person)
hanging out (participle present)
hung out (participle past)
hung out (past)

After the film, do you want to go hang out?

He hung out with his friends all day yesterday.

"I promise to take care of myself. Yes; I won't take any risks. Not a single blessed risk. Of course not. I mean to hang out. Don't worry. Jove! I feel as though nothing could touch me. Why! this is luck from the word Go."

1900, Joseph Conrad, Lord Jim, page xxiii. 177:

The sisters, and their cousin Thomas Cummins, had gone onto the bridge that night to see a poem Julie Kerry had painted on it, and as they did so they bumped into Clemons and three other young men who were hanging out there.

2012 August 21, Ed Pilkington, “Death penalty on trial: should Reggie Clemons live or die?”, in The Guardian:

(intransitive, idiomatic, slang, often with with) To spend time with somebody; to regularly meet with somebody.


chill

chill (third-person singular simple present chills, present participle chilling, simple past and past participle chilled)

chills (present singular third-person)
chilling (participle present)
chilled (participle past)
chilled (past)

→ Danish: chille

→ Dutch: chillen

→ French: chiller

→ German: chillen

→ Norwegian: chille

→⇒ Portuguese: chilar

→ Swedish: chilla

From Middle English chillen, from Old English ċilian (“to be cold”), from Proto-West Germanic *kilēn (“to be cold”). Cognate with Middle Dutch killen (“to be cold”), Dutch killen (“to be cold, shiver”).

inh

Chill, man, we've got a whole week to do it; no sense in getting worked up.

The new gym teacher really has to chill or he's gonna blow a gasket.

A time to live and a time to die / A time to break and a time to chill / To act civilized or act real ill

1979, “Rapper's Delight”, performed by Sugarhill Gang:

(intransitive, slang) To relax; to lie back; to take things easy.


quiescence

en-noun

quiescence (countable and uncountable, plural quiescences)

From quiescent + -ence, or borrowed from Latin quiescentia, from quiescens, present participle of quiesco, from quies.

Being at rest, quiet, still, inactive or motionless.


chill out

en-verb

chill out (third-person singular simple present chills out, present participle chilling out, simple past and past participle chilled out)

chills out (present singular third-person)
chilling out (participle present)
chilled out (participle past)
chilled out (past)

Since I'm between projects, I think I'll just chill out.

I wish I could chill out about the neighbor's barking dog, but it wakes me up every night.

You should chill out on the fatty foods.

Chill out, whatcha yelling for?

2002 April 23, Avril Lavigne, Lauren Christy, Graham Edwards, Scott Spock (lyrics and music), “Complicated”, in Let Go, performed by Avril Lavigne, Arista Records:

Ed: Chill out. Everyone's all right. / Shaun: Stop telling me to chill out!

2004, Simon Pegg, Edgar Wright, Shaun of the Dead (motion picture):

A girl […]telling her friend, “I met her at a party three weeks ago, but now she’s like e-mailing me and I’m just like, chill out, bitch!”

2004 January 2, Ariel Levy, “Where the Bois Are”, in New York Magazine:

(intransitive, slang) To relax or take time out; to calm down; reduce or go easy on something.


repose

repose (third-person singular simple present reposes, present participle reposing, simple past and past participle reposed)

reposes (present singular third-person)
reposing (participle present)
reposed (participle past)
reposed (past)
repose (infinitive)

Berthe Morisot
Rhode Island School of Design Museum
Édouard Manet

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)

ref

From the collection of the Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Providence, Rhode Island, U.S.A.

col

Cognates

odpočívat

to cause (oneself) to take a rest from some activity; to allow (oneself) to recover from some activity

arãpas

to lean or recline, sit down, or lie down to rest — see also rest

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.

1608, [Guillaume de Salluste] Du Bartas, “[Du Bartas His First VVeek, or Birth of the VVorld: […].] The Seaventh Daie of the First VVeek.”, 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:

If you be pleas'd, retire into my Cell, / And there repoſe, a turne or tvvo, […]

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:

[H]is right Cheeke / Repoſing on a Cuſhion.

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:

Then the divine night came, and treading earth, / Close by the flood that had from Jove her birth, / Within a thicket I repos’d; […]

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:

Still is the toiling hand of Care: / The panting herds repoſe: / Yet hark, hovv thro' the peopled air / The buſy murmur glovvs!

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:

At night when I reposed, fair dreams did pass / Before my pillow;— […]

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:

[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"[…].

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:

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; […]

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:

[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.

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:

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.

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:

(also figurative) To lean or recline, sit down, or lie down to rest; to rest.

Simon reposed in the year 1287.

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.

[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:

(figurative) Especially (chiefly Eastern Orthodoxy) of a saint: to die, to rest in peace.


take it easy

en-verb

take it easy (third-person singular simple present takes it easy, present participle taking it easy, simple past took it easy, past participle taken it easy)

takes it easy (present singular third-person)
taking it easy (participle present)
took it easy (past)
taken it easy (participle past)

desc

→ Finnish: ottaa iisisti (partial calque)

I'm going to stay home Saturday and take it easy.

Take it easy, it's just a game!


put one's feet up

en-verb

put one's feet up (third-person singular simple present puts one's feet up, present participle putting one's feet up, simple past and past participle put one's feet up)

puts one's feet up (present singular third-person)
putting one's feet up (participle present)
put one's feet up (participle past)
put one's feet up (past)

It is also disconcerting when you suddenly realise that the driver isn't steering, but may be thumbing over his Customs papers with his feet up.

1948 March and April, “Notes and News: Lines in County Donegal”, in Railway Magazine, page 129:


footrest

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-footrest.wav


lay down

lay down (third-person singular simple present lays down, present participle laying down, simple past and past participle laid down)

lays down (present singular third-person)
laying down (participle present)
laid down (participle past)
laid down (past)

From Middle English leyen doun, leien doun (“to lay down”), equivalent to lay + down.

I feel a bit ill, so I'm going to go lay down for a while.

(intransitive, nonstandard, proscribed) To lie down.


breather

From breathe + -er (agent noun suffix) or + -er (relational noun suffix).

After a short breather she was ready to continue up the hill.


coffee break

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-coffee break.wav

A rest period during the business day (usually of about 10 or 15 minutes). So named because it is an opportunity to get coffee.

اِسْتِرَاحَة

a rest period during the business day providing the opportunity to drink coffee


resting

en-noun

resting (countable and uncountable, plural restings)

Hence, if the universal Father had […] personally controlled the movements of the Israelites, and directed the course, the motions, and the restings, of that cloud […]

1865, Merritt Munson, The History of Moses and the Israelites, page 199:


respite

respite (countable and uncountable, plural respites)

From Anglo-Norman and Old French respit (“rest”), from Latin respectus. Doublet of respect.

(brief interval):

(rest or relief):

I crave but four day's respite.

c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii]:

Some pause and respite only I require.

1668, John Denham, “The Passion of Dido for Æneas”, in Poems and Translations with the Sophy, page 136:

It was a joy to snatch some brief respite, and find himself in the rectory drawing–room. Listening here was as pleasant as talking; just to watch was pleasant. The young priests who lived here wore cassocks and birettas; their faces were fine and mild, yet really strong, like the rector's face; and in their intercourse with him and his wife they seemed to be brothers.

1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter X, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

Mr. Cameron had a respite Thursday from the negative chatter swirling around him when he appeared outside 10 Downing Street to denounce the murder a day before of a British soldier on a London street.

2013 May 23, Sarah Lyall, “British Leader's Liberal Turn Sets Off a Rebellion in His Party”, in New York Times, retrieved 2013-05-29:

The American escort carriers reach the first in a series of rain squalls, and Japanese fire drops off significantly, as their optical systems are unable to see through the rain. At this point in time, almost any other major navy would simply have used their radar to keep spotting and firing, as Duke of York had done to Scharnhorst almost a year ago and as the battleships of the Seventh Fleet had done to the Yamashiro mere hours earlier. But, since only one ship in the Center Force has gunnery radar, the American ships gain some respite.

2019 February 27, Drachinifel, 17:27 from the start, in The Battle of Samar - Odds? What are those?, archived from the original on 2022-11-03:


chillout

chillout (countable and uncountable, plural chillouts)

The Gloucester Chamber of Commerce cancelled this year's SnowFest […]. President Peter Markey says instead a 'chillout day' is being held at the end of the month.

2011, Chris Gibson, John Connell, Festival Places: Revitalising Rural Australia, →ISBN, page 70:

(colloquial) A period of quiet, rest and relaxation, especially after a party etc.


laze

en-verb

laze (third-person singular simple present lazes, present participle lazing, simple past and past participle lazed)

lazes (present singular third-person)
lazing (participle present)
lazed (participle past)
lazed (past)

The cat spent the afternoon lazing in the sun.

A football game went on beside the line; half the teams just lazed on the grass […]

1939, Graham Greene, chapter 4, in The Lawless Roads, Penguin, published 1982, page 93:

To pass time relaxing; to relax, lounge.


insistent

en-adj

insistent (comparative more insistent, superlative most insistent)

more insistent (comparative)
most insistent (superlative)

From Latin insistens, participle of insisto.

(obsolete) Standing or resting on something.


respire

From Middle English respiren, borrowed from Old French respirer or Latin respīrō (“to blow back, breathe out”), from re- (“back”) + spīrō (“to breathe, blow”).

af

He cast to suffer him no more respire,
But gan his sturdie sterne about to weld,
And him so strongly stroke, that to the ground him feld.

1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto XI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, page 162:


rester

From Middle English restar, restere, equivalent to rest + -er.

Their ideal vacation experience made the rester the focus of care, the object of medical, cultural, and culinary attention.

2013, Diane P. Koenker, Club Red: Vacation Travel and the Soviet Dream, page 136:


R&R

In other news, Taylor [Swift] and Travis Kelce are currently getting in some R&R during the [Kansas City] Chiefs' "Bye Week," which happens to coincide with Taylor's break from the Eras Tour.

2024 October 10, Mehera Bonner, “The Levi's Shortalls Taylor Swift Can't Stop Wearing Are Still on Sale Post Prime Day”, in Cosmopolitan:

(originally military) Initialism of rest and recuperation/recreation/relaxation.


breathing space

en-noun

breathing space (countable and uncountable, plural breathing spaces)


restful

en-adj

restful (comparative more restful, superlative most restful)

more restful (comparative)
most restful (superlative)

From Middle English restful, restfulle, equivalent to rest + -ful.

A restful night's sleep mended his spirits.


wind down

en-verb

wind down (third-person singular simple present winds down, present participle winding down, simple past and past participle wound down)

winds down (present singular third-person)
winding down (participle present)
wound down (participle past)
wound down (past)

After a long day at work, she winds down by kickboxing.

(intransitive, idiomatic) To relax; to get rid of stress; to destress.


lounger

These colors, falling upon the throng of monomachists and loungers much as we see the aureate beams of divine favor fall on hierarchs in art, lent them an appearance insubstantial and thaumaturgic, as though they had all been produced a moment before by the flourish of a cloth and would vanish into the air again at a whistle.

1980, Gene Wolfe, chapter XXVII, in The Shadow of the Torturer (The Book of the New Sun; 1), New York: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 236:

You shoulda heard me in the lounger / Telling people what they was

2020, “I Don't Belong”, in A Hero's Death, performed by Fontaines D.C.:


reposeful

en-adj

reposeful (comparative more reposeful, superlative most reposeful)

more reposeful (comparative)
most reposeful (superlative)

The reposeful, easy, affluent life to which her mother's marriage had introduced her was, in truth, the beginning of a great change in Elizabeth.

1886, Thomas Hardy, chapter XIV, in The Mayor of Casterbridge:


water break

A rest period during the business day (usually of about 10 or 15 minutes), allowing people to fetch a drink.


recoverer

From Old French recovrier; equivalent to recoveren + -er.

Recovery, recuperation or respite (often from sickness)


lie by

en-verb

lie by (third-person singular simple present lies by, present participle lying by, simple past lay by, past participle lain by)

lies by (present singular third-person)
lying by (participle present)
lay by (past)
lain by (participle past)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-lie by.wav

(intransitive, dated) To rest from labour; to take a break.


minibreak

Take minibreaks throughout your day to reduce or prevent symptoms of tension and stress. These breaks need not take more than a few minutes...

2008, Martha Davis, Elizabeth Robbins Eshelman, Matthew McKay, The Relaxation and Stress Reduction Workbook:


well-rested

en-adj

well-rested (comparative more well-rested, superlative most well-rested)

more well-rested (comparative)
most well-rested (superlative)

From well + rested. Compare Middle English ful restid (“well-rested”, literally “fully rested”).

cog

Having had sufficient (or even more than enough) sleep or rest to function optimally during waking hours.


frist

en-noun

frist (countable and uncountable, plural frists)

From Middle English *frist, frest, first, furst, from Old English fierst (“period, space of time, time, respite, truce”), from Proto-Germanic *fristiz, *frestą (“date, appointed time”), from Proto-Indo-European *pres-, *per- (“forward, forth, over, beyond”). Cognate with North Frisian ferst, frest (“period, time”), German Frist (“period, deadline, term”), Swedish frist (“deadline, respite, reprieve, time-limit”), Icelandic frestur (“period”). See also first.

cog

(obsolete) A certain space or period of time; respite.


respit

fro-noun

respit oblique singular, m (oblique plural respiz or respitz, nominative singular respiz or respitz, nominative plural respit)

respit oblique singular or (canonical masculine)
respiz (oblique plural)
respitz (oblique plural)
respiz (nominative singular)
respitz (nominative singular)
respit (nominative plural)

French: répit

→ English: respite

From Latin respectus, from the verb respicio (“I look back at”).

Molt volantiers, que ja respiz n'an sera priz

Willingly, straight away [i.e. without taking rest first]


gest

[…]Yet of your Royall presence, Ile aduenture / The borrow of a Weeke. When at Bohemia / You take my Lord, Ile giue him my Commission, / To let him there a Moneth, behind the Gest / Prefix'd for's parting: yet (good-deed) Leontes, / I loue thee not a Iarre o'th' Clock, behind / What Lady she her Lord. You'le stay?

c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:

(obsolete) Alternative form of gist (“a stop for lodging or rest in a journey, or the place where this happens; a rest”)

gests

roll reciting the several stages of a royal progress


catch one's breath

en-verb

catch one's breath (third-person singular simple present catches one's breath, present participle catching one's breath, simple past and past participle caught one's breath)

catches one's breath (present singular third-person)
catching one's breath (participle present)
caught one's breath (participle past)
caught one's breath (past)

They stopped for a moment at the end of the set to catch their breath before resuming play.

to take a break, or rest while doing a strenuous activity, so that one's breathing becomes easier


nooning

When the girls went in to dinner the men had finished theirs, and were lounging in the shady yard enjoying their nooning.

1896, Various, McClure's Magazine, Vol. 6, No. 5, April, 1896:

An hour or two passed, and we saw a house in the distance to which we drove,--a humble house, sod-built, like that we had made our nooning in.

1899, George Edward Woodberry, Heart of Man:

It was the nooning hour, and the men at their limited leisure lay in the sun on the piles of lumber, like lizards.

1912, Charles Egbert Craddock, The Ordeal:

(archaic, dialectal) A nap or rest in the middle of the day.


veg out

veg out (third-person singular simple present vegs out or veges out or vegges out, present participle veging out or vegging out, simple past and past participle veged out or vegged out)

vegs out (present singular third-person)
veges out (present singular third-person)
vegges out (present singular third-person)
veging out (participle present)
vegging out (participle present)
veged out (participle past)
veged out (past)
vegged out (participle past)
vegged out (past)

From veg + out, the former a clipping of vegetate.

After an exhausting day at work, I would veg out in front of the TV.

(informal) To relax in a slack attitude, not moving much.


lie-down

have a lie-down; have a little lie-down; have a wee lie-down

After a long morning working, he decided to have a little lie-down before cooking lunch.

(especially Commonwealth English) A short period of rest while lying.


overrested

en-adj

overrested (comparative more overrested, superlative most overrested)

more overrested (comparative)
most overrested (superlative)

“I feel overrested, in a sense,” Garcia said Wednesday during a conference call.

2008 January 3, John Branch, “Well-Rested Buccaneers to Face Surging Giants”, in New York Times:

Having had too much rest and too little activity.


breathing spell

en-noun

breathing spell (plural breathing spells)

An opportunity to rest or give thought to a situation; a short respite.


lie back

en-verb

lie back (third-person singular simple present lies back, present participle lying back, simple past lay back, past participle lain back)

lies back (present singular third-person)
lying back (participle present)
lay back (past)
lain back (participle past)


overrelax

overrelax (third-person singular simple present overrelaxes, present participle overrelaxing, simple past and past participle overrelaxed)

overrelaxes (present singular third-person)
overrelaxing (participle present)
overrelaxed (participle past)
overrelaxed (past)

They may have diabetes, or be taking a medication that overrelaxes the muscular sphincter at the bottom of the esophagus.

2003, Mark Hyman, Mark Liponis, Ultraprevention: The 6-Week Plan That Will Make You Healthy for Life, page 70:


reposure

In the reposure of most soft content.

c. 1599 (date written), I. M. [i.e., John Marston], The History of Antonio and Mellida. The First Part. […], London: […] [Richard Bradock] for Mathewe Lownes, and Thomas Fisher, […], published 1602, →OCLC, (please specify the page):


downlying

[…]him in his house, down-lying and up-rising

1641, George Cavendish, Thomas Wolsey, Late Cardinall, his Lyffe and Deathe:


downsitting

Thou knowest my downsitting and my uprising.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 139:2:

The act of sitting down; repose; a resting.


cotch

cotch (third-person singular simple present cotches, present participle cotching, simple past and past participle cotched)

cotches (present singular third-person)
cotching (participle present)
cotched (participle past)
cotched (past)

I’m sitting here cotching by the side of the road / Watching the world go by through the eyes of a rogue

2003 September 15, “Gimme Dat” (track 8), in Asylum Speakers, performed by Foreign Beggars, Dented Records:

And we don't really need Netflix, I'mma give you something to watch / After we done, bill a spliff and cotch / Pour me a glass of the Henny on the rocks

2016 February 14, Joseph Adenuga, Darren Dixon, Tariq Devega (lyrics and music), “Ladies Hit Squad” (track 6), in Konnichiwa, performed by Skepta ft. D Double E and ASAP Nast, Boy Better Know:

Green’s Dictionary of Slang
w:Green's Dictionary of Slang

(intransitive, Jamaica, MLE) To hang out or chill out; to relax.


microvacation

With only a few tree silhouettes, and both the freeways and El Camino Real miraculously silent, for just these moments Ralph Sr., appreciative of peace as anybody, could take another of what he'd come to think of as microvacations on an island of time fragile and precious as any Tahiti or one of them.

1990, Thomas Pynchon, Vineland, Penguin Books, published 1991, →ISBN, page 92:

A very brief vacation; a momentary respite from the cares of everyday life.


nanobreak

The latest trend is for 'nanobreaks' where people manage two full days away, spanning one overnight stay.

2009 May 10, Kevin Feddy, “Shearings drives UK revival”, in Manchester Evening News:


reposit

reposit (third-person singular simple present reposits, present participle repositing, simple past and past participle reposited)

reposits (present singular third-person)
repositing (participle present)
reposited (participle past)
reposited (past)

Borrowed from Latin repositus, past participle of repōnō (“put back”), from re- + pōnō (“put”). See position.

Others reposit their young in holes.

1713, W[illiam] Derham, Physico-Theology: Or, A Demonstration of the Being and Attributes of God, from His Works of Creation. […], London: […] W[illiam] Innys, […], →OCLC:

(transitive) To cause to rest or stay; to lay away; to lodge, as for safety or preservation; to place; to store.


lunchbreak

A period of rest from work for the purpose of eating lunch.


tea break

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-tea break.wav

(British, Australia) A short break or rest period during the day when a cup of tea or coffee is drunk.

اِسْتِرَاحَة

a short break or rest period during the day when a cup of tea or coffee is drunk


key down

key down (third-person singular simple present keys down, present participle keying down, simple past and past participle keyed down)

keys down (present singular third-person)
keying down (participle present)
keyed down (participle past)
keyed down (past)


take the weight off one's feet

take<,,took,taken> the weight off one's feet

take the weight off one's feet (third-person singular simple present takes the weight off one's feet, present participle taking the weight off one's feet, simple past took the weight off one's feet, past participle taken the weight off one's feet)

takes the weight off one's feet (present singular third-person)
taking the weight off one's feet (participle present)
took the weight off one's feet (past)
taken the weight off one's feet (participle past)


lay chilly

lay chilly (third-person singular simple present lays chilly, present participle laying chilly, simple past and past participle laid chilly)

lays chilly (present singular third-person)
laying chilly (participle present)
laid chilly (participle past)
laid chilly (past)


lie on the oars

lie on the oars (third-person singular simple present lies on the oars, present participle lying on the oars, simple past lay on the oars, past participle lain on the oars)

lies on the oars (present singular third-person)
lying on the oars (participle present)
lay on the oars (past)
lain on the oars (participle past)

(by extension) To rest; to take a break from working.


no-go pill

Coordinate term: go pill

(informal) Any hypnotic drug taken to ensure adequate rest before military operations, etc.


aaraám

آرام (Perso-Arabic)
aaraám (nominative singular)
aareemí (nominative plural)
aareemí (oblique singular)
aareemíim (oblique plural)

Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd
Proto-Indo-European *h₁rem-
Classical Persian آرَام (ārām)bor.
Urdu آرَام (ārām)bor.
Phalura aaraám
Borrowed from Urdu آرَام (ārām), from Classical Persian آرَام (ārām).


dinner camp

Looking at that brownie cake reminded me of a most unusual happening when we had come back to the mill for dinner camp in the middle of the day.

2010, Brian Taylor, A Swag of Memories: Australian bush stories:

I remember one day on dinner camp, we was all relaxing as the horses fed around us, when all of a sudden the station horses took off.

2011, Herb Wharton, Cattle Camp: Murrie Drovers and Their Stories, page 6:

Dinner camp was generally a casual affair.

2012, Bobbie Buchanan, In the Tracks of Old Bluey: The Life Story of Nat Buchanan, page 58:

Eventually they arrive, and set up dinner camp under a tree in the dry creekbed, close to a soakage where, with only a little effort, fresh water can be obtained from under the sand.

2013, Elspeth Young, Third World in the First: Development and Indigenous Peoples:

(Australia) A midday break for a meal and rest taken by drovers and their livestock.


sitspot

Shortly it is to be shorn of its standardization, its monotony of same acts and faces and same whangs on the sitspot. Vaudeville has cleaned house. The old order changeth. It is in new and capable hands.

He knew she was close to releasing so he gave her one very hard smack to each sitspot.

Another strike across her ass, then another a little below, and then he landed the last at the most sensitive point, her sitspot, the place where her ass curved into her thighs.

The central part of each buttock on which a person rests while sitting.


recharge one's batteries

en-verb

recharge one's batteries (third-person singular simple present recharges one's batteries, present participle recharging one's batteries, simple past and past participle recharged one's batteries)

recharges one's batteries (present singular third-person)
recharging one's batteries (participle present)
recharged one's batteries (participle past)
recharged one's batteries (past)

(informal, figuratively) To recover mentally and/or physically by taking a break or engaging in a relaxing activity.


rest up

rest up (third-person singular simple present rests up, present participle resting up, simple past and past participle rested up)

rests up (present singular third-person)
resting up (participle present)
rested up (participle past)
rested up (past)


retiring room

But why cannot women—and mothers especially—have their own retiring room of the kind I remember some years ago finding such a pleasant surprise on a Kings Cross -Edinburgh train?

1964 July, Mary Allen, “A Woman's View of the New Coaches”, in Modern Railways, page 9:

Wolferton was an important station on the Kings Lynn-Hunstanton line, which closed in 1969. As the station was convenient for the Sandringham estate, it was regularly patronised by royalty, and royal retiring rooms were provided.

2022 December 14, Robin Leleux, “A royal occasion as heritage projects honoured: Wolferton”, in RAIL, number 972, page 61:

A room set aside for seclusion, rest or quiet.


mack out

mack out (third-person singular simple present macks out, present participle macking out, simple past and past participle macked out)

macks out (present singular third-person)
macking out (participle present)
macked out (participle past)
macked out (past)

(UK, slang) To spend time relaxing; to chill out.


winter holiday

en-noun

winter holiday (countable and uncountable, plural winter holidays)

Coordinate term: summer holiday

A time of rest from work or studies during the winter months.


breyk

Borrowed from English break, from Middle English breken, from Old English brecan.

break (rest or pause, usually from work)