the act of intermitting, discontinuing, or interrupting the course of any thing, work, action, or the like.

Cessation of Arms, an armistice, or occasional truce. See Truce.

When the commander of a place finds things reduced to an extremity, so that he must either surrender, or sacrifice the garrison and inhabitants to the mercy of the enemy, he plants a white flag on the breach, or beats the chamade; on which a cessation of arms and hostilities commences, to give room for a capitulation.