Literary notes about abeyance (AI summary)
Abeyance is often used in literature to denote a state of temporary suspension, where matters are not ended but simply paused or held in limbo. In some narratives, this can refer to the postponement of legal or institutional processes, such as hereditary claims or contractual obligations, where rights remain intact yet unexercised [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]. Other works use the term to capture a momentary halt in time or thought—the stalling of ships’ clocks, the suspension of memory, or even the holding back of personal opinions and emotions—imbuing these pauses with reflective significance [6, 7, 8, 9]. Whether addressing the intermission of political debates or the temporary abatement of human passions, abeyance enriches the text by conveying both uncertainty and the potential for renewal [10, 11, 12].
- Suspension does not abrogate the connection between the member and his lodge, and places his rights in abeyance only.
— from The Principles of Masonic Law by Albert Gallatin Mackey - The Queen determines the abeyance in her favour, and she consequently becomes also Baroness Neville.
— from A Complete Guide to Heraldry by Arthur Charles Fox-Davies - At her death in 1885 the barony would have fallen into abeyance between Alice and Arthur.
— from A Complete Guide to Heraldry by Arthur Charles Fox-Davies - At Jane's death in 1890 Hannah became sole heir, and the abeyance came to an end when Hannah succeeded to the barony.
— from A Complete Guide to Heraldry by Arthur Charles Fox-Davies - David being possessed of the barony "by writ" of Cilfowyr, it would "fall into abeyance" at the death of Charles between the three daughters equally.
— from A Complete Guide to Heraldry by Arthur Charles Fox-Davies - Time was in abeyance on the ship's clocks.
— from Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas: An Underwater Tour of the World by Jules Verne - She lay waiting, half drowsy with the heat, recollection in abeyance, idly afloat on a hazy sea of thought.
— from Ragna by Anna Miller Costantini - My reason and will are in abeyance this morning.
— from Juliette Drouet's Love-Letters to Victor Hugo by Juliette Drouet and Louis Guimbaud - My face was purple, my lips blue, my faculties in abeyance.
— from Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas: An Underwater Tour of the World by Jules Verne - When the 33rd Congress met, on the 6th day of December, 1853, the tariff issue was practically in abeyance.
— from Recollections of Forty Years in the House, Senate and CabinetAn Autobiography. by John Sherman - The most obnoxious laws were either repealed or allowed to remain in abeyance.
— from The American Railway: Its Construction, Development, Management, and Appliances by Thomas Curtis Clarke - The Constitution was therefore in abeyance for the time being, so far as it in any way affected the progress and termination of the war.
— from Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant, Complete by Ulysses S. Grant
