recess

RECESS', noun [Latin recessus, from recedo. See Recede.] 1. A withdrawing or retiring; a moving back; as the recess of the tides. 2. A withdrawing from public business or notice; retreat; retirement. My recess hath given them confidence that I may be conquered. And every neighboring grove sacred to soft recess and gentle love. 3. Departure. 4. Place of retirement or secrecy; private abode. This happy place, our sweet recess 5. State of retirement; as lords in close recess In the recess of the jury, they are to consider their evidence. 6. Remission or suspension of business or procedure; as, the house of representatives had a recess of half an hour. 7. Privacy; seclusion from the world or from company. Good verse recess and solitude requires. 8. Secret or abstruse part; as the difficulties and recesses of science. 9. A withdrawing from any point; removal to a distance. 10. An abstract or registry of the resolutions of the imperial diet. [Not in use.] 11. The retiring of the shore of the sea or of a lake from the general line of the shore, forming a bay.