quiescence - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

From quiescent +‎ -ence, or borrowed from Latin quiescentia, from quiescens, present participle of quiesco, from quies.

quiescence (countable and uncountable, plural quiescences)

  1. The state of being quiescent; dormancy.
    • 1883, Henry J. Winser, The Yellowstone National Park-A Manual for Tourists‎[1], New York: G.P. Putnam Sons, page 46:
      Old Faithful is sometimes degraded by being made a laundry. Garments placed in the crater during quiescence are ejected thoroughly washed when the eruption takes place.
  2. Being at rest, quiet, still, inactive or motionless.
  3. The action of bringing something to rest or making it quiescent; the action of coming to rest or to a quiescent state.
    • 1662, Thomas Salusbury, Galileo's Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, Dialogue 2:
      I pray you, Salviatus, to tell me ... the cause of the Pendulum's quiescence.
  4. (microbiology) The period when a cell is in a term of no growth and no division.
  5. (entomology) In insects, a temporary slowing down of metabolism and development in response to adverse environmental conditions, which, unlike diapause, does not involve physiological changes.

The state of being quiescent