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noun
1.
the act of suspending.
2.
the state of being suspended.
3.
temporary abrogation or withholding, as of a law, privilege, decision, belief, etc.
4.
stoppage of payment of debts or claims because of financial inability or insolvency.
5.
Chemistry.

the state in which the particles of a substance are mixed with a fluid but are undissolved.
a substance in such a state.

6.
Physical Chemistry. a system consisting of small particles kept dispersed by agitation (mechanical suspension) or by the molecular motion in the surrounding medium (colloidal suspension)
7.
something on or by which something else is suspended or hung.
8.
something that is suspended or hung.
9.
Also called suspension system. the arrangement of springs, shock absorbers, hangers, etc., in an automobile, railway car, etc., connecting the wheel-suspension units or axles to the chassis frame.
10.
Electricity. a wire, filament, or group of wires by which the conducting part of an instrument or device is suspended.
11.
Music.

the prolongation of a tone in one chord into the following chord, usually producing a temporary dissonance.
the tone so prolonged.

12.
Rhetoric. the heightening of interest by delay of the main subject or clause, especially by means of a series of parallel preceding elements.
noun
1.
an interruption or temporary revocation: the suspension of a law
2.
a temporary debarment, as from position, privilege, etc
3.
a deferment, esp of a decision, judgment, etc
4.
(law)

a postponement of execution of a sentence or the deferring of a judgment, etc
a temporary extinguishment of a right or title

5.
cessation of payment of business debts, esp as a result of insolvency
6.
the act of suspending or the state of being suspended
7.
a system of springs, shock absorbers, etc, that supports the body of a wheeled or tracked vehicle and insulates it and its occupants from shocks transmitted by the wheels See also hydraulic suspension
8.
a device or structure, usually a wire or spring, that serves to suspend or support something, such as the pendulum of a clock
9.
(chem) a dispersion of fine solid or liquid particles in a fluid, the particles being supported by buoyancy See also colloid
10.
the process by which eroded particles of rock are transported in a river
11.
(music) one or more notes of a chord that are prolonged until a subsequent chord is sounded, usually to form a dissonance

suspension sus·pen·sion (sə-spěn’shən)
n.

A noncolloidal dispersion of solid particles in a liquid, often used for pharmaceutical preparations.

The fixation of an organ to other tissue for support, as the uterus.

The hanging of a part from a support, such as a plaster-encased limb.

suspension
(sə-spěn’shən)
A mixture in which small particles of a substance are dispersed throughout a gas or liquid. If a suspension is left undisturbed, the particles are likely to settle to the bottom. The particles in a suspension are larger than those in either a colloid or a solution. Muddy water is an example of a suspension. Compare colloid, solution.

In lazy evaluation, a suspension (or in Henderson’s terminology, a “recipe”) is a closure with a flag indicating whether the expression has been evaluated or not. When the expression is evaluated the first time, this flag is set. Subsequent requests for the value of the expression will not attempt to re-evaluate it.
(1995-02-06)