cease

cease
    n 1: (`cease' is a noun only in the phrase `without cease') end
    v 1: put an end to a state or an activity; "Quit teasing your
         little brother" [syn: {discontinue}, {stop}, {cease}, {give
         up}, {quit}, {lay off}] [ant: {bear on}, {carry on},
         {continue}, {preserve}, {uphold}]
    2: have an end, in a temporal, spatial, or quantitative sense;
       either spatial or metaphorical; "the bronchioles terminate in
       a capillary bed"; "Your rights stop where you infringe upon
       the rights of other"; "My property ends by the bushes"; "The
       symphony ends in a pianissimo" [syn: {end}, {stop}, {finish},
       {terminate}, {cease}] [ant: {begin}, {start}]
    

Cease \Cease\ (s[=e]s), v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Ceased} (s[=e]st);
   p. pr. & vb. n. {Ceasing}.] [OE. cessen, cesen, F. cesser,
   fr. L. cessare, v. intensive fr. cedere to withdraw. See
   {Cede}, and cf. {Cessation}.]
   1. To come to an end; to stop; to leave off or give over; to
      desist; as, the noise ceased. "To cease from strife."
      --Prov. xx. 3.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. To be wanting; to fail; to pass away.
      [1913 Webster]

            The poor shall never cease out of the land. --Deut.
                                                  xv. 11.

   Syn: To intermit; desist; stop; abstain; quit; discontinue;
        refrain; leave off; pause; end.
        [1913 Webster]
    

Cease \Cease\, v. t.
   To put a stop to; to bring to an end.
   [1913 Webster]

         But he, her fears to cease
         Sent down the meek-eyed peace.           --Milton.
   [1913 Webster]

         Cease, then, this impious rage.          --Milton
   [1913 Webster]
    

Cease \Cease\, n.
   Extinction. [Obs.] --Shak.
   [1913 Webster]
    

145 Moby Thesaurus words for "cease":
      abandon, abdicate, abjure, abort, acknowledge defeat, ad infinitum,
      be consumed, be done for, be gone, be no more, belay, calm,
      calm down, cancel, cease to be, cease to exist, ceaselessly, cede,
      cessation, close, come to naught, come to nothing, conclude,
      conclusion, conk out, constantly, continually, continuously,
      cry quits, cut it out, dematerialize, depart, desist, desist from,
      desistance, determine, die, die away, die down, die out, disappear,
      discontinue, dispel, disperse, dissipate, dissolve, do a fade-out,
      drop, drop it, dwindle, ebb, end, ending, endlessly, erode,
      eternally, evanesce, evaporate, everlastingly, exit, expire, fade,
      fade away, fade out, finish, finish up, flee, fly, forever, forgo,
      forswear, give over, give up, go, go away, halt, hand over,
      have done with, hide, hold, incessantly, infinitely, interminably,
      intermit, knock it off, knock off, lay down, lay off,
      leave no trace, leave off, leave the scene, lull, melt, melt away,
      molder, pacify, pass, pass away, pass out, peg out, period, perish,
      perorate, perpetually, quiesce, quiet, quieten, quit, refrain,
      refrain from, relinquish, renounce, resign, resolve,
      retire from sight, run out, scrap, scratch, scrub, sink, sink away,
      soothe, stay, stop, subside, succumb, suffer an eclipse, surcease,
      surrender, terminate, termination, throw up, tranquilize,
      unendingly, unremittingly, vanish, vanish from sight, waive, wane,
      waste, waste away, wear away, wind up, without cease, yield