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.