Webster's English Dictionary

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suspension

Cross references:
  1. emulsion              
 
sus.pen.sion \s*-'spen-ch*n\ n [LL suspension-, suspensio, fr. L suspensus, 
   pp. of suspen]dere 1: the act of suspending : the state or period of being 
   suspended : as  1a: temporary removal from office or privileges  1b: 
   temporary withholding (as of belief or decision)  1c: temporary abrogation 
   of a law or rule  1d1: the holding over of one or more musical tones of a 
   chord into the foll owing chord and producing a momentary discord and 
   suspending the concord which the ear expects; specif : such a dissonance 
   which resolves downward 1d2: the tone thus held over  1e: stoppage of 
   payment of business obligations : FAILURE  1f: a rhetorical device whereby 
   the principal idea is deferred to the end o f a sentence or longer unit 2a: 
   the act of hanging : the state of being hung  2b1: the state of a substance 
   when its particles are mixed with but undisso lved in a fluid or solid 2b2: 
   a substance in this state  2b3: a system consisting of a solid dispersed in 
   a solid, liquid, or gas us u. in particles of larger than colloidal size 3: 
   something suspended  4a: a device by which something (as a magnetic needle) 
   is suspended  4b: the system of devices (as springs) supporting the upper 
   part of a vehic le on the axles 4c: the act, process, or manner in which 
   the pendulum or torsion balance of  a timepiece is suspended