cess

See also: ċess

English

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /sɛs/
Rhymes: -ɛs

Etymology 1

Shortened form of assess, spelled by analogy with census and other Latinate words.

Noun

cess (plural cesses)

(Britain, Ireland) An assessed tax.
- 1596, Spenser, A View of the Present State of Ireland‎:
  Cess is none other than that which you yourself called imposition...
(Britain, Ireland, informal) Luck
(obsolete) Bound; measure.
- Shakespeare
  The poor jade is wrung in the withers out of all cess.

Verb

cess (third-person singular simple present cesses, present participle cessing, simple past and past participle cessed)

(Britain, Ireland) To levy a cess.
- 1596, Spenser, A View of the Present State of Ireland‎:
  ...according to the quantity thereof, we may cess the said rent and allowance issuing thereout.

Derived terms

bad cess

Etymology 2

Possibly from an archaic dialect word meaning "bog".

Noun

the cess is the low area either side of the track

cess (plural cesses)

(rail transport) The area along either side of a railroad track which is kept at a lower level than the sleeper bottom, in order to provide drainage.

Derived terms

cess path
cess heave

Etymology 3

French cesser. See cease.

Verb

cess (third-person singular simple present cesses, present participle cessing, simple past and past participle cessed)

(obsolete) To cease; to neglect.
(Can we find and add a quotation of Spenser to this entry?)

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for cess in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.)

Anagrams

CSEs, ECSS, ESCs, secs, secs.

Swedish

Noun

cess n

C-flat

Declension

Declension of cess
	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	cess	cesset	cess	cessen
Genitive	cess	cessets	cess	cessens

Related terms

ciss

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