in abeyance

in abeyance

1. On hold; at a moment of inactivity.
   • 1928, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, chapter III, in Lady Chatterley’s Lover, [Germany?]: Privately printed, →OCLC:

     His defences were all in his wits and cunning, his very instincts of cunning, and when these were in abeyance he seemed doubly naked and like a child, of unfinished, tender flesh, and somehow struggling helplessly.

   • 1989, Melinda M. Snodgrass, “The Ensigns of Command”, in Star Trek: The Next Generation, season 3, episode 2, spoken by Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart):

     Then I hereby declare this treaty in abeyance.