SUSPEN'SION, n. [L. suspensio. See Suspend.]

1. The act of hanging up, or of causing to hang by being attached to something above.
2. The act of making to depend on any thing for existence or taking place; as, the suspension of payment on the performance of a condition.
3. The act of delaying; delay; as, the suspension of a criminal's execution; called a respit or reprieve.
4. Act of withholding or balancing the judgment; forbearance of determination; as, the suspension of opinion, of, judgment, of decision or determination. Suspension of judgment often proceeds from doubt or ignorance of facts.
5. Temporary cessation; interruption; intermission; as, the suspension of labor or of study; the suspension or pain.
6. Temporary privation of powers, authority or rights; usually intended as a censure or punishment; as, the suspension of an ecclesiastic or minister for some fault. This may be merely a suspension of his office, or it may be both of his office and his income. A military or naval officer's suspension takes place when he is arrested.
7. Prevention or interruption of operation; as, the suspension of the habeas corpus act.
8. In rhetoric, a keeping of the hearer in doubt and in attentive expectation of what is to follow, or what is to be the inference or conclusion from the arguments or observations.
9. In Scots law, a stay or postponement of execution of a sentence condemnatory, by means of letters of suspension granted on application to the lord ordinary. – Cyc.
10. In mechanics, points of suspension, in a balance, are the points in the axis or beam where the weights are applied, or from which they are suspended. – Cyc.
11. In music, every sound of a chord to a given base, which is continued to another base, is a suspension. – Cyc. Suspension of arms, in war, a short truce or cessation of operations agreed on by the commanders of the contending parties, as for burying the dead, making proposals for surrender or for peace, &c. – Cyc.

1. The act of suspending, or the state of being suspended; pendency; as, suspension from a hook.
2. Especially, temporary delay, interruption, or cessation
   
   
   ; as: (a)
3. A conditional withholding, interruption, or delay; as, the suspension of a payment on the performance of a condition.
4. The state of a solid when its particles are mixed with, but undissolved in, a fluid, and are capable of separation by straining; also, any substance in this state.
5. A keeping of the hearer in doubt and in attentive expectation of what is to follow, or of what is to be the inference or conclusion from the arguments or observations employed.
6. A stay or postponement of execution of a sentence condemnatory by means of letters of suspension granted on application to the lord ordinary.
7. The prolongation of one or more tones of a chord into the chord which follows, thus producing a momentary discord, suspending the concord which the ear expects. Cf. Retardation.
   
   

   Pleas in suspension (Law), pleas which temporarily abate or suspend a suit. -- Points of suspension (Mech.), the points, as in the axis or beam of a balance, at which the weights act, or from which they are suspended. -- Suspension bridge, a bridge supported by chains, ropes, or wires, which usually pass over high piers or columns at each end, and are secured in the ground beyond. -- Suspension of arms (Mil.), a short truce or cessation of operations agreed on by the commanders of contending armies, as for burying the dead, making proposal for surrender or for peace, etc. -- Suspension scale, a scale in which the platform hangs suspended from the weighing apparatus instead of resting upon it.

   Syn. -- Delay; interruption; intermission; stop.