Other forms: reposes
Repose is rest and peaceful stillness. In repose, a face in repose, seek repose.
It is literary and belongs to description rather than to speech. A face in repose is one doing nothing, which is a useful phrase because a resting face often looks quite unlike the person. It also means to place trust, as in repose confidence in somebody.
1nounreposeRest and peaceful stillness.
“The statue shows the saint in repose, lying peacefully with his hands folded.”
repose is a rest.
Old French reposer comes from Late Latin repausare — re plus pausare, to pause or rest.
Proto-Indo-European
*wert-
Proto-Indo-European
*peh₂w- — few, little; smallness
Ancient Greek
παῦσῐς — ceasing, stopping
Latin
repausāre
Old French
reposer
Middle French
reposer
Anglo-Norman
reposer
Middle English
reposen — to rest
English, today
repose
Built from
The verb is derived from Middle English reposen (“to rest”), from Anglo-Norman reposer, reposir, and Middle French reposer, from Old French reposer, repauser (“to become calm; to be peaceful; to rest; to be immobile; to lie or be placed; to cease, stop; to neglect”) (modern French reposer), from Latin repausāre, the present active infinitive of repausō (“(Late Latin) to be at rest; to lie down, rest; to sleep; to calm, pacify; (Latin) to halt temporarily, pause”), from re- + pausō (“to cease, halt; to pause”) (from pausa (“a halt, stop; a pause; an end”), from Ancient Greek παῦσῐς (“ceasing, stopping”), from παύω (“to cease; to make to cease, stop; to bring to an end; to hinder”) (further etymology uncertain; possibly from Proto-Indo-European peh₂w- (“few, little; smallness”)) + -σῐς). The noun is derived from Late Middle English repose, from Anglo-Norman repous, repos, and Middle French repos, repose, from Old French repos (“calm; rest; period or state of sleep; state of immobility; state of inaction”) (modern French repos), from reposer, repauser (see above). Noun painting (“technique of including in a painting an area or areas which are dark, indistinct, or soft in tone”) is borrowed from French repos.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA