suspension

Pronunciation

• IPA: /səˈspɛnʃən/^[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English suspensioun, borrowed from Latin suspēnsio (“a hanging up; a vaulting”),^[2][3][4] partly through French,^[5][6] from suspendere (“to hang up”) (see suspend), from sub- (“up from under”) and pendere (“to hang”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A temporary halting or deprivation, as of office or privilege: 1421 in Barnhart, the early 15th century in Etymonline.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Execution by hanging is an early 15th-century sense, and the literal action of hanging from above is from the 1540s.^[3] The general sense, a stopping or condition of being stopped, is from about 1600, 1603 in the OED.^[3][7] Keeping a decision or judgment in abeyance is from the 1560s,^[3] and Coleridge's willing suspension of disbelief is from 1817.^[3] A mixture in which fine particles float without dissolving is from 1707.^[2][3] The suspension bridge is from 1819–21,^[3][2] and the system of springs supporting a vehicle is a later sense.^[8][9] In Scots law a suspension was a suit to stay a legal process.^[10]

Timeline

• 1421 – a temporary deprivation.^[2]
• 1560s – suspension of judgment.^[3]
• c. 1600 – a stopping.^[3]
• 1707 – particles in a liquid.^[2]
• 1817 – suspension of disbelief.^[3]
• 1819 – suspension bridge.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The temporary removal of someone from a job, team or school, as a punishment.
2. A temporary stop or delay: suspension of talks.
3. The system of springs and shock absorbers supporting a vehicle on its wheels.
4. (chemistry) A mixture in which fine particles are dispersed in a liquid or gas without dissolving.
5. The act of hanging something from above.

Word family

• presuspension
• resuspension
• suspension bridge
• suspension points

Related words

• suspend
• suspender
• suspense
• suspenser
• suspensive
• pendant
• pending
• depend

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
9. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
10. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)