Emily Dickinson Lexicon

REST, n.¹ [Sax. rest, ræst, quiet or a lying down; Dan. G. and Sw. rast; D. rust. The German has also ruhe, Sw. ro, Dan. roe, rest, repose. In W. araws, and arosi, signify to stay, stop, wait. This Teutonic word can not be the L. resto, if the latter is a compound of re and sto; but is an original word of the Class Rd, Rs. See the Verb.]

1. Cessation of motion or action of any kind, and applicable to any body or being; as, rest from labor; rest from mental exertion; rest of body or mind. A body is at rest when it ceases to move; the mind is at rest, when it ceases to be disturbed or agitated; the sea is never at rest. Hence,
2. Quiet; repose; a state free from motion or disturbance; a state of reconciliation to God. Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest to your souls. – Matth. xi.
3. Sleep; as, retire to rest.
4. Peace; national quiet. The land had rest eighty years. – Judges iii. Deut. xii.
5. The final sleep, death. – Dryden.
6. A place of quiet; permanent habitation. Ye are not as yet come to the rest, and to the inheritance which the Lord your God giveth you. – Deut. xii.
7. Any place of repose. In dust, our final rest and native home. – Milton.
8. That on which any thing leans or lies for support. – 1 Kings vi. Their vizors clos'd, their lances in the rest. – Dryden.
9. In poetry, a short pause of the voice in reading; a cesura.
10. In philosophy, the continuance of a body in the same place.
11. Final hope. Sea fights have been final to the war; but this is, when princes set up their rest upon the battle. [Obs.] – Bacon.
12. Cessation from tillage. – Lev. xxv.
13. The Gospel church or new covenant state in which the people of God enjoy repose, and Christ shall be glorified. – Is. xi.
14. In music, a pause; an interval during which the voice is intermitted; also, the mark of such intermission.