recess

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   make a recess in

   recess the piece of wood

2. 2
   verb

   put into a recess

   recess lights

3. 3
   noun

   A depressed, hollow, or indented space; also, a hole or opening.

   Put a generous recess behind the handle for finger space.

4. 4
   noun

   A hidden, innermost, or inaccessible place or part of a place.

   The recesses of the forest answered well the purposes of concealment, and Lucy was useful both as an unsuspected messenger, and also for the intelligence she was able to obtain.

5. 5
   noun

   A temporary stoppage of an activity; a break, a pause.

   Spring recess offers a good chance to travel.

6. 6
   noun

   An act of retiring or withdrawing; a moving back.

   the recess of the tides

7. 7
   noun

   A decree or resolution of the diet of the Holy Roman Empire or the Hanseatic League.

   Conformably to this a receſs [the Recess of Augsburg] vvas framed, approved of, and publiſhed vvith the uſual formalities. […] Such are the capital articles in this famous Receſs, vvhich is the baſis of religious peace in Germany, […]

8. 8
   noun

   An act of retiring or withdrawing from public life, society, etc.; also, an act of living in retirement or seclusion, or a period of such retirement or seclusion.

   First we went to the Castle of St. Elmo, built on a very high rock, whence we had an intire prospect of yᵉ whole Citty, which lyes in shape of a theatre upon the sea brinke, with all the circumjacent islands, as far as Capreæ, famous for the debauched recesses of Tiberius.

Etymology

The noun is borrowed from Latin recessus (“act of going back, departure, receding, retiring; (figuratively) retreat, withdrawal; (metonymically) distant, secluded, or secret spot, corner, nook, retreat; recessed part, indentation”) (also Late Latin recessus (“decree or resolution of the Diet of the Holy Roman Empire”)), from recēdō (“to go back, recede, retire, withdraw; to go away, depart; (by extension) to disappear, vanish; to separate; to stand back, be distant; to yield”) (from re- (prefix meaning ‘back, backwards’) + cēdō (“to go, move, proceed”)) + -tus (suffix forming action nouns from…