rest

• enPR: rĕst, IPA^(key): /ɹɛst/

• Audio (US):

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• Audio (Southern England):

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• Rhymes: -ɛst
• Homophone: wrest

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 (countable and uncountable, plural rests)

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.

   Synonyms: sleep, slumber

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.

   Synonyms: break, repose, time off

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.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible,  (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, Judges 3:30:

     And the land had rest fourscore years.

   Synonyms: peace, quiet, roo, silence, stillness, tranquility

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. Also, death itself: "Not alone, not alone would I go to my rest in the heart of the love..." -- George William Russell ("Love")

   She was laid to rest in the village cemetery.

   Synonym: peace

7. (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.

   Hyponyms: breve rest, demisemiquaver rest, hemidemisemiquaver rest, minim rest, quaver rest, semibreve rest, semiquaver rest

8. (music, countable) A written symbol indicating such a pause in a musical score such as in sheet music.
9. (physics, uncountable) Absence of motion.

   The body's centre of gravity may affect its state of rest.

   Antonym: motion

10. (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.

    Hypernym: bridge

11. (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.

    Synonyms: (of a telephone) cradle, support

    Hyponyms: arm rest, elbow rest, foot rest, head rest, leg rest, neck rest, wrist rest

12. A projection from the right side of the cuirass of armour, serving to support the lance.
    • 1700, [John] Dryden, “The Flower and the Leaf: Or, The Lady in the Arbour. A Vision.”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; , London: Jacob Tonson, , →OCLC:

      their visors closed, their lances in the rest

13. 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

    • 1667, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. , London: [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker ; nd by Robert Boulter ; nd Matthias Walker, , →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: , London: Basil Montagu Pickering , 1873, →OCLC:

      in dust our final rest, and native home

    • 1611, The Holy Bible,  (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, Deuteronomy xii:9:

      Ye are not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance which the Lord your God giveth you.

14. (poetry) A short pause in reading poetry; a caesura.
15. The striking of a balance at regular intervals in a running account. Often, specifically, the intervals after which compound interest is added to capital.
    • 1874, New York Court of Appeals, Records and Briefs:

      a new account was opened under the heading "Irondale Mine" and so continued witli semiannual rest

16. (dated) A set or game at tennis.

• activity

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”).

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

1. (intransitive) To cease from action, motion, work, or performance of any kind; stop; desist; be without motion.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible,  (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, Exodus 23:12:

     Six days thou shalt do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt rest.

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.
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. , London: [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker ; nd by Robert Boulter ; nd Matthias Walker, , →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: , London: Basil Montagu Pickering , 1873, →OCLC:

     There rest, if any rest can harbour there.

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.

   • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte d'Arthur, Book X:

     And thereby at a pryory they rested them all nyght.

   • 2011 September 29, Jon Smith, “Tottenham 3-1 Shamrock Rovers”, in BBC Sport:

     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.

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.
    • 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, , →OCLC, Canto XXI, page 35:

      I sing to him that rests below,
      ⁠And, since the grasses round me wave,
      ⁠I take the grasses of the grave,
      And make them pipes whereon to blow.

11. (intransitive) To rely or depend on.

    The decision rests on getting a bank loan.

    • 1700, John Dryden, Sigismonda and Guiscardo:

      On him I rested, after long debate, / And not without considering, fixed fate.

    • 2013 August 3, “Boundary problems”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8847:

      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.

12. To be satisfied; to acquiesce.
    • 1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. , London: J Tonson, , published 1713, →OCLC, Act I, scene ii, page 1:

      to rest in Heaven's determination

• (lie down and take repose, especially by sleeping): relax
• (give rest to): relieve
• (stop working): have a breather, pause, take a break, take time off, take time out
• (be situated): be, lie, remain, reside, stay
• (transitive: lean, lay): lay, lean, place, put
• (intransitive: lie, lean): lean, lie

• (lie down and take repose): nap, sleep

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”)).

• enPR: rĕst, IPA^(key): /ɹɛst/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛst

rest (uncountable)

2. (uncountable) That which remains.

   Synonyms: lave, remainder

   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.

3. Those not included in a proposition or description; the remainder; others.
   • 1676, Bishop Stillingfleet, A Defence of the Discourse Concerning the Idolatry Practised in the Church of Rome:

     Plato and the rest of the philosophers

   • 1697, Virgil, “(please specify the book number)”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. , London: Jacob Tonson, , →OCLC:

     Arm'd like the rest, the Trojan prince appears.

   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter XI, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

     The rest of us were engaged in various occupations: Mr. Trevor relating experiences of steamboat days on the Ohio to Mrs. Cooke; Miss Trevor buried in a serial in the Century; and Farrar and I taking an inventory of the fishing-tackle, when we were startled by a loud and profane ejaculation.

   • 2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Citadel:

     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.

   • 2019 February 3, “UN Study: China, US, Japan Lead World AI Development”, in Voice of America‎, archived from the original on 7 February 2019:

     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):

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4. (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.

• (that which remains): See also Thesaurus:remainder

• all the rest

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

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

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.")

Aphetic form of arrest.

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

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

• -ster-, -ster, ERTs, rets, erst, tres, RETs, TERs, SERT, estr-, -estr-

Derived from German Rest.

• IPA^(key):
• Hyphenation: rest

rest m inan

1. (mostly in plural) backlog, unfinished business
2. arrear(s)

• “rest”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “rest”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989

• setr

Borrowed from French reste, probably via German Rest.

• IPA^(key): ,

• Audio:

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• Homophone: rast

rest c (singular definite resten, plural indefinite rester)

1. remnant, remainder, rest
2. (in the plural) scraps of food
3. (mathematics) residue, remainder

• forresten
• madrest
• restgæld
• restlager
• restklasse

• “rest” in Den Danske Ordbog

From Middle Dutch reste, from Middle French reste.

• IPA^(key): /rɛst/

• Audio:

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• Hyphenation: rest
• Rhymes: -ɛst

rest f (plural resten, diminutive restje n)

1. rest (that which remains)

   Synonyms: overblijfsel, overschot

• Afrikaans: res
• Negerhollands: rest

• erts, ster

From a Northern Italian dialect, compare Emilian rest, Piedmontese rest, Romagnol rést, Italian resto (“rest”), from restare, from Latin restō (“I stay behind, remain”).

• IPA^(key):
• Hyphenation: rest
• Rhymes: -ɛʃt

rest (comparative restebb, superlative legrestebb)

1. lazy

   Synonyms: henye, lusta, renyhe, tunya

• restell
• restség

(Expressions):

• a rest kétszer fárad

• rest in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh. A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (“The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language”, abbr.: ÉrtSz.). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN

rest m (plural resc)

1. rest, residue

Borrowed from French reste.

rest m (definite singular resten, indefinite plural rester, definite plural restene)

1. remainder, rest

   resten av ― the rest of

   rester ― remains, remnants

• forresten
• matrest

• “rest” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Borrowed from French reste.

rest m (definite singular resten, indefinite plural restar, definite plural restane)

1. remainder, rest

   resten av ― the rest of

   restar ― remains, remnants

• forresten
• matrest

• “rest” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

• IPA^(key): /rest/

rest f

1. Alternative form of ræst

Borrowed from French reste.

• IPA^(key): /rest/

rest n (plural resturi)

1. rest (remainder)

• rămas, rămășiță

rest n (uncountable)

1. change (small denominations of money given in exchange for a larger denomination)

   Poftim restul de la înghețată, băiete.

   Here's the change from the ice-cream, son.

• The use of the meaning for change is restrictive to money, usually in small sums, taken after making a transaction. To describe such change when it is in one's pocket or lying around, the term mărunțiș is preferred.

Borrowed from French reste, from Latin restāre (“remain”).

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rest c

1. (in the plural) remainder, rest (what remains)

   Resten är gula.

   The rest are yellows.

2. (mathematics) remainder

   11 dividerat med 2 är 5, med 1 i rest ― 11 divided by 2 is 5 remainder 1

3. (chiefly in the plural) leftover

   Idag blir det rester

   Today we're having leftovers

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

rest

1. past participle of resa

rest

1. supine of resa

• ters

• rest in Svenska Akademiens ordböcker
• rest in Elof Hellquist, Svensk etymologisk ordbok (1st ed., 1922)