Rests

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /ɹɛsts/

Definitions

1. To remain in a position of stillness or tranquility while halting movement or activity temporarily, as well as being found in a specific location or condition
2. To stop moving or working for a short time ; to be positioned or located somewhere
3. To pause or take a break from action ; to lie or be placed in a certain spot

Etymology: The verb "rests" is simply the third-person singular form of the verb "rest", so its story is the story of "rest" itself. That story has two strands that eventually met. The first is native: Old English "ræst" meant a place to sleep or a resting-place, and its cousins in Dutch "rust", German "Rast" and Swedish "rast" still carry the sense of repose. The second comes from Latin "restō", "to stay behind", built from "re-" and "stō", "to stand". Old French turned that into "rester", "to remain", and English borrowed it in the Middle English period, where it displaced the older word "lave", meaning "remainder". Notice how the sense of "remaining" survives in the word's modern uses. Standing still and staying behind are close cousins: a thing that stays in one place is, in a sense, what is left behind. The verb "rest" in the sense of "to be positioned somewhere" (a ladder rests against a wall) keeps that older Latin idea of staying put, while the verb meaning "to stop moving or working" inherits the Germanic idea of repose.

Synonyms: relaxes, reclines, pauses

Antonyms: works, exerts