2.[intransitiveI, transitiveT] to push a button on a CDplayer, DVD player etc in order to make a CD, DVD etc stop playing for a short time 〔按暂停键〕(使)暂停播放
nCOLLOCATIONS
adverbs
briefly
At the doorway she paused briefly.
momentarily (=for a very short time)
He paused momentarily, then knocked twice more.
dramatically
'They have offered us a lot of money.' She paused dramatically.
phrases
pause (for) a moment
He paused for a moment, seemingly overcome by emotion.
pause for breath
She had to pause for breath after every two or three steps.
pause for thought
'Of course, ' she replied, without pausing for thought.
pause for effect (=in order to make people eager to hear what you are going to say)
'Now I know what to do, ' Brown said, pausing for effect.
pause only to do something
He paused only to make a few notes, and left.
nTHESAURUS
pause to stop speaking or stop doing something for a very short time before starting again. Pause is used especially in writtendescriptions. In everyday spoken English, people usually just say stop
She paused at the bottom of the stairs and looked up at the clock.
He paused, waiting for Larry to say something.
hesitate to stop for a moment and wait before doing something, because you feel unsure or nervous about it
She hesitated for a moment before replying.
have/take a break to stop working for a short time in order to rest, eat etc
We’re all getting tired. Let’s take a break for ten minutes.
adjourn formal if a meeting or courtadjourns or is adjourned, it stops for a short time
If there are no more questions, the committee will adjourn until tomorrow morning.
The trial was adjourned because one of the defendants was ill.
take five especially American EnglishAmE informal to stop for a short time in order to rest
Let’s take five and get some coffee.
break off to suddenly stop speaking, especially because you see, hear, or think of something
He broke off his conversation when he saw Mary running towards him.
She broke off and looked embarrassed, then said, ‘I’ll explain later.’
Examples from the Corpus
pause• Children can run through without pausing.• Her heartleaped into her mouth, and she paused.• Kim was reading her e-mail, but she paused and looked up when I came in.• Lawrence paused and turned to me: "Look, if you don't think it's a good idea, don't go."• Pausing briefly at the door, Linus straightened his tie.• Jill paused for a moment to look at her notes.• She talked for about twenty minutes without even pausing for breath.• The two girlspaused, grimy and breathless, in the middle of the sickdisplay.• Subjects might pause out of habit at points where it would be appropriate for them to pause when reading aloud.• There are ways of pausingrecords that really are interesting.• It was unusual for Hal to pause so long.• We waited while Graham paused to light a cigarette.• Arriving back at the cottage for the last time Ludens paused to look and listen.
1PAUSEa short time during which someone stops speaking or doing something before starting again 暂停,停顿
There was a pause while Alice changed the tape.
艾丽斯换磁带的时候出现了短暂的停顿。
After a long pause, she went on.
停了好一会儿,她才继续下去。
pause in
an awkward pause in the conversation
谈话中尴尬的停顿
2. (also pause button) a control which allows you to stop a CD player, DVD player etc for a short time and start it again 暂停键
3.APMa mark ( ) over a musical note, showing that the note is to be played or sung longer than usual 〔音符上的〕延长记号
4give somebody pause (for thought)THINK ABOUTto make someone stop and consider carefully what they are doing 使某人停下来(仔细考虑)
an avoidable accident that should give us all pause for thought
应能让我们都停下来反思的一次本可以避免的事故
Examples from the Corpus
give somebody pause (for thought)• Even seemingly innocuous turnstile-exits with interlockinghorizontalbarsgive my sister pause, however.• Knowing what Edmund has done to his realfather might have given Cornwall pause before proclaiming himself the next one.• High real estate prices have given potential buyers pause.• Yet the offer seems to have given Burton no pause.• The breadth of this holding gives one pause.• But it gave you some pause to think of what else might be crawling around there.• It gave him pause, but soon enough he had his own retort.-Yeah, right.• Their sparring for position of least-favoured songave me pause for thought.
nCOLLOCATIONS
adjectives
a long pause
There was a long pause before anyone spoke.
a brief/short/slight pause
"Well, that was a surprise, " he said after a brief pause.
a momentary pause (=very short)
There was a momentary pause during which Mr Hammond glanced at his wife.
an awkward pause
After an awkward pause, Ray began to answer my question.
a dramatic pause (=one that has a dramatic effect)
In the dramatic pause before she replied, you could feel the tension in the room.
a pregnant pause (=one that is full of meaning or emotion)
‘OK. Let’s move on, ’ said the president after a pregnant pause.
long pause• After a long pause he looked up and saw the stones held tightly in their hands.• Then there was a long pause during which Sophie drank her coffee and avoided looking at her companion.• There was a long pause on the other end, and for a moment Quinn thought the caller had hung up.• There was a long pause, then, before it observed that some-thing was falling down toward it from the orbiting ship.• They heard him in the bathroom, running the water, then breaking a tumbler between long pauses.• The presence of the light was sufficient to reduce the number of long pauses by 35 percent.• In 1897, after an uncommonly long pause of more than four years, an eleventhson was born.• After an unnaturally long pause Constance became aware of this.
Originpause2
(1400-1500)Latinpausa, from Greekpausis, from pauein“to stop”
ADJECTIVE | VERB + PAUSE | PAUSE + VERB | PAUSE + NOUN | PREPOSITIONADJECTIVE➤brief, momentary, short, slight, small短暫的停頓;片刻的停頓;略微的停頓▸➤lengthy, long長時間的停頓➤frequent頻繁的停頓◇He made frequent pauses to catch his breath.他不時停下來喘口氣。➤awkward, uncomfortable尷尬的停頓▸➤pregnant意味深長的停頓➤dramatic誇張的停頓➤thoughtful若有所思的停頓➤silent無聲的停頓VERB + PAUSE➤take暫停◇Shall we take a pause here?我們在這裏暫停一下好嗎?PAUSE + VERB➤follow接下來是停頓◇In the pause that followed, I noticed that he was shaking.接下來的停頓中,我發現他在顫抖。PAUSE + NOUN➤button (on a video camera, etc.錄像機等)暫停鍵PREPOSITION➤after a/the pause在停頓之後◇'I don't know,' he said after a long pause.他停頓了很久才說道:“我不知道。”➤in a/the pause在停頓中◇Everyone nodded in agreement in the pauses between his sentences.他每說完一句話,大家都贊同地點頭。➤with a/ the pause伴隨着停頓◇He read very slowly and with frequent pauses.他讀得非常慢,並不時停頓。➤without a/the pause沒有停頓◇She read the whole text without a pause.她一口氣讀完了整篇課文。➤pause before⋯之前的停頓◇There was a long pause before he spoke again.他停頓了很久,才再次開口說話。➤pause between⋯之間的停頓◇in the pauses between his jokes在他那些笑話之間的停頓➤pause for為⋯的停頓◇a pause for breath停下來喘口氣➤pause in⋯中的停頓◇during a pause in the conversation在談話中的停頓pause
verb
ADVERB | PHRASESADVERB➤briefly, (for) a moment, momentarily, (for) a second短暫停頓;猶豫一會兒;停頓片刻◇She paused a moment and then walked away.她猶豫了一下,然後走開了。➤mid-sentence, mid-stride話說到半句時/跨出半步時停下來◇She paused mid-stride when the doorbell rang.她正提腳要走,門鈴響了。➤occasionally偶爾停頓◇She paused occasionally to smell the flowers.她偶爾停下來聞聞花香。➤barely, hardly幾乎不停頓◇He spoke for two hours and barely paused for breath.他談了兩個小時,幾乎都沒停下來喘口氣。➤deliberately故意停頓◇She paused deliberately, her eyes holding his.她故意停下來,眼睛迎着他的目光。➤dramatically, meaningfully戲劇性地/意味深長地停頓➤expectantly滿懷期待地停下來➤reflectively, thoughtfully若有所思地停頓▸➤uncertainly猶豫不決地停頓➤awkwardly, uncomfortably尷尬地停頓PHRASES➤pause for breath, pause for thought停下來喘口氣/思考▸➤➤pause only long enough to do sth, pause only to do sth停下來時間只夠做⋯;停下來做⋯◇Pausing only to put out her cigarette, she left the room.她停下來把煙掐掉,然後就離開了房間。➤pause to consider, look, reflect, etc.停下來思考、看、細想等◇Just pause to think before giving me your answer.先想一想再回答我。➤without pausing沒有停下◇Without pausing to knock, she opened the door.她沒有停下來敲門就打開了門。
pause ♦︎ break ♦︎ interruption ♦︎ lull ♦︎ gapThese are all words for a period of time when sth stops before starting again.这些词均表示停顿、间断。PATTERNS AND COLLOCATIONS 句型和搭配◆a pause / a break / an interruption / a lull / a gap in sth◆after a pause / a break / an interruption / a lull / a gap◆without pause / a break / interruption◆a short pause / break / interruption / lull / gap◆a long pause / break / gap◆a sudden pause / break / lull◆to fill a pause / gap■pause [countable] (especiallywritten) a period of time during which sb stops talking or when sth stops before starting again停顿;停顿的时间◆There was a long pause before she answered.她停了好一会儿才回答。◆After a brief pause, they continued climbing.他们略停了一下就继续爬山。■break [countable] a period of time when sth stops before starting again; a pause for advertisements in the middle of a television or radio programme暂停;间断;(电视或电台节目的)插播广告的间隙◆I need a break in my daily routine.我需要脱离日复一日的常规生活,调剂一下。◆She wanted to take a career break in order to have children.她想暂时放下工作,去生孩子。◆More news after the break.广告后继续播报新闻。◆a commercial break广告时间ⓘ Break is often used to talk about people stopping work for a period of time. * break常指暂时放下工作。 see also break ⇨ restnoun2■interruption [countable] something that temporarily stops an activity or situation; a period of time when an activity is stopped before starting again阻断物;中断时间◆The birth of her son was a minor interruption to her career.儿子的出生使她的事业小小中断了一下。◆There's been an interruption in the power supply.曾经发生停电。◆I managed to work for two hours without interruption.我总算连续工作了两个小时。ⓘ An interruption to/in sth is often used in announcements or statements about the power supply/normal service/sb's career/activities/output/production being stopped for a period of time. * interruption to/in sth常用于关于服务或活动暂时中断的通告或声明,如interruption to/in the power supply/normal service/sb's career/activities/output/production(电力供应/正常服务/事业/活动/输出/生产的中断)。 see also interrupt ⇨ disrupt■lull [countable, usually singular] (especiallywritten) a quiet period between times of activity(活动间的)平静时期,间歇◆There was a lull in the conversation.谈话中出现了一段沉寂。◆Just before an attack everything would go quiet, but we knew it was just the lull before the storm(= before a time of noise or trouble).就在攻击开始前一切都变得沉寂,但我们知道这只是风暴前的平静。ⓘ Lull is often used in business contexts to talk about a period of time when people are not buying many products or services. * lull常用于商务语境,指业务淡季◆ (business商业) There will probably be a lull over the winter, followed by a resurgence of activity next spring.整个冬天都可能会是淡季,接着会在来年春天复苏。■gap [countable] (especiallyspoken) a period of time when sth stops before starting again, or between two events间断;间隔;间隙◆I waited for a gap in the conversation.我等待谈话中出现间隙。◆They met again after a gap of twenty years.他们阔别二十年后又见面了。NOTE辨析 Break, lull or gap?A break is often planned: you need a break in your own activities in order to have a rest or do sth different. A lull in a conversation, in fighting or in business activity is sth that just happens without being planned. A gap also usually happens without being planned: it is usually either a gap in the conversation or a period of time between two events. * break常常是计划好的,因活动期间需要间歇来休息或做些其他事情。lull指谈话、战事或商务活动中未经计划的间歇。gap通常也不是安排好的,通常用于gap in the conversation,或指两件事之间的间隔。pause
verb
pause ♦︎ hesitate ♦︎ break off ♦︎ ditherThese words all mean to stop speaking or doing sth, or to be slow to speak or act, because you feel uncertain about how to continue.这些词均表示暂停、犹豫。PATTERNS AND COLLOCATIONS 句型和搭配◆to hesitate / dither over sth◆to hesitate / dither between two things◆to pause / hesitate / break off (for) a moment◆to pause / hesitate briefly / momentarily / a little◆to pause / break off abruptly■pause [intransitive] to stop speaking or doing sth for a short time before continuing暂停;停顿◆Anita paused for a moment, then said, 'All right.'安妮塔略停了一会儿,然后说:“好吧。”◆The woman spoke almost without pausing for breath(= very quickly).那女人说话像放连珠炮似的。◆Pausing only to pull on a sweater, he ran out of the house.他只停下来穿上件毛衣,就冲出了屋外。ⓘ Pause is often used with the adverbs briefly, (for) a moment, (for) an instant and momentarily. * pause常与副词briefly、(for) a moment、(for) an instant和momentarily连用。■hesitate [intransitive] to be slow to speak or act because you feel uncertain or nervous犹豫;迟疑不决◆She hesitated before replying.她犹豫了一下才回答。◆I didn't hesitate for a moment about taking the job.我毫不犹豫地接受了那份工作。 see also hesitate ⇨ hesitate, hesitant ⇨ hesitant▸hesitation
noun
[countable, uncountable] ◆He spoke fluently and without unnecessary hesitations.他讲话很流畅,毫不支吾迟疑。■ˌbreak ˈoff
phrasal verb
(broke, broken) (especiallywritten) to suddenly stop speaking or doing sth for a time突然停顿;突然中断◆He broke off in the middle of a sentence.他话说了一半儿就不说了。ⓘ People often break offsuddenly or abruptly, often because of a sudden strong emotion. * break off常与suddenly或abruptly连用,常指因情绪强烈而中断◆She broke off and turned away to hide the tears.她突然不说了,转过身去,不愿别人看到她哭了。■dither ˈdɪðə(r) [intransitive] (especially BrE, ratherinformal, disapproving) to hesitate about what to do because you are unable to decide犹豫不决;踌躇◆She was dithering over what to wear.她拿不定主意穿什么好。◆Stop dithering and get on with it.别再犹豫了,干吧。ⓘ Dither is usually used in a disapproving way. A person who dithers is generally seen as being rather weak and irritating. * dither通常含贬义,指人懦弱和令人恼火。▸dither
noun
[singular] ◆ (informal) She was in a total dither about the party.那个聚会简直让她不知所措。