Dictionary
Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.
in abeyance en · ADP
Meanings
-
On hold; at a moment of inactivity.
His defences were all in his wits and cunning, his very instincts of cunning, and when these were in abeyance he seemed doubly naked and like a child, of unfinished, tender flesh, and somehow struggling helplessly.
1928, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, chapter III, in Lady Chatterley’s Lover, [Germany?]: Privately printed, →OCLC:Then I hereby declare this treaty in abeyance.
1989, Melinda M. Snodgrass, “The Ensigns of Command”, in Star Trek: The Next Generation, season 3, episode 2, spoken by Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart):