abeyance

noun

Etymology: First attested in 1528. From Anglo-Norman abeiance (“legal expectation”), from Old French abeance (“desire”) from abeër (“to gape at, aspire after”), abaer, abair (“to desire”), from a (“to”) + baër (“to gape”), bair (“yawn”), from Medieval Latin batō (“to yawn”).

1. Expectancy; a condition when an ownership of real property is undetermined; lapse in succession of ownership of estate, or title.

   “The proceeds of the estate shall be held in abeyance in an escrow account until the minor reaches age twenty-one.”

   “Yet sometimes the fee may be in abeyance, that is (as the word signifies) in expectation, remembrance, and contemplation in law; there being no person in esse, in whom it can vest and abide […]”

2. Suspension; temporary suppression; dormant condition.

   “Without a plausible explanation for what might have provoked an ice age, the whole theory fell into abeyance.”

   “[...] Prosser was instrumental in the decision in 2010 to recommence publication of an annual health and safety report, following a period when it had fallen into abeyance.”

3. Expectancy of a noble or armigeral title, its right in existence but its exercise suspended.

   “The broad pennant of a commodore first class has been in abeyance since 1958, together with the rank.”