reprieve
verbEtymology
First use appears c. 1513 in the writings of Robert Fabyan. In the sense of “to take back to prison”, from Middle English repryen (“to remand, detain”) (1494), possibly from Middle French repris, in the form of reprendre (“take back”); a cognate to reprise. The sense has become generalized, but does retain connotations of punishment and execution. The noun's first use appears c. 1592.
Definitions
To cancel or postpone the punishment of someone, especially an execution.
To bring relief to someone.
- Company […] may reprieve a man from his melancholy, yet it cannot secure him from his conscience.
To take back to prison (in lieu of execution).
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To abandon or postpone plans to close, withdraw or abolish (something).
The cancellation or postponement of a punishment.
- The prisoner was saved from execution; the governor had requested a reprieve.
A document authorizing such an action.
Relief from pain etc., especially temporary.
- Yet it was not easy, on the balance of play, to be convinced by Pellegrini and his defeated players that the reprieve might somehow be a defining moment over the two legs.
A cancellation or postponement of a proposed event undesired by many.
- And it said there was no reprieve for 435 stations already approved for closure before the report appeared.
The neighborhood
Derived
Vish — recursive loop
No curated loop yet for reprieve. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.
sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA