Emily Dickinson Lexicon

PAUSE, n. [pauz; L. Sp. and It. pausa; Fr. pause; D. poos; Sw. paus; G. and Dan. pause; Gr. παυσις, from παυω, to cease, or cause to rest.]

1. A stop; a cessation or intermission of action, of speaking, singing, playing or the like; a temporary stop or rest. – Hooker. Locke.
2. Cessation proceeding from doubt; suspense. I stand in pause where I shall first begin. – Shak.
3. Break or paragraph in writing. – Locke.
4. A temporary cessation in reading. The use of punctuation is to mark the pauses in writing. In verse, there are two kinds of pauses, the cesural and the final. The cesural pause divides the verse; the final pause closes it. The pauses which mark the sense, and which may be called sentential, are the same in prose and verse.
5. A mark of cessation or intermission of the voice; a point.