Crossword clues for reprieve
reprieve
- Stay on death row
- Welcome out
- A (temporary) relief from harm or discomfort
- An interruption in the intensity or amount of something
- A warrant granting postponement (usually to postpone the execution of the death sentence)
- Welcome word on death row
- A gubernatorial warrant
- Stay of execution
- Spare salesman always turns up when first person goes in
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Reprieve \Re*prieve\ (r?-pr?v"), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Reprieved (-pr?vd"); p. pr. & vb. n. Reprieving.] [OE. repreven to reject, disallow, OF. reprover to blame, reproach, condemn (pres. il reprueve), F. r['e]prouver to disapprove, fr. L. reprobare to reject, condemn; pref. re- re- + probare to try, prove. See Prove, and cf. Reprove, Reprobate.]
-
To delay the punishment of; to suspend the execution of sentence on; to give a respite to; to respite; as, to reprieve a criminal for thirty days.
He reprieves the sinnner from time to time.
--Rogers. -
To relieve for a time, or temporarily.
Company, thought it may reprieve a man from his melaneholy yet can not secure him from his conscience.
--South.
Reprieve \Re*prieve"\ (r?-pr?v"), n.
-
A temporary suspension of the execution of a sentence, especially of a sentence of death.
The morning Sir John Hotham was to die, a reprieve was sent to suspend the execution for three days.
--Clarendon. -
Interval of ease or relief; respite.
All that I ask is but a short reprieve, ll I forget to love, and learn to grieve.
--Denham.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1570s, reprive, "take back to prison," alteration (perhaps by influence of reprove) of Middle English repryen "to remand, detain" (late 15c.), probably from Middle French repris, past participle of reprendre "take back" (see reprise). Meaning "to suspend an impending execution" is recorded from 1590s; this sense evolved because being sent back to prison was the alternative to being executed. Spelling with -ie- is from 1640s, perhaps by analogy of achieve, etc. Related: Reprieved; reprieving.
1590s, from reprieve (v.).
Wiktionary
n. 1 The cancellation or postponement of a punishment. 2 A document authorizing such an action. 3 Relief from pain etc., especially temporary. vb. 1 (context transitive English) To cancel or postpone the punishment of someone, especially an execution. 2 (context transitive English) To bring relief to someone. 3 (context transitive obsolete English) To take back to prison (in lieu of execution).
WordNet
n. a (temporary) relief from harm or discomfort [syn: respite]
an interruption in the intensity or amount of something [syn: suspension, respite, hiatus, abatement]
a warrant granting postponement (usually to postpone the execution of the death sentence)
the act of reprieving; postponing or remitting punishment [syn: respite]
v. postpone the punishment of a convicted criminal, such as an execution [syn: respite]
relieve temporarily
Wikipedia
Reprieve can refer to:
- In criminal proceedings, the act of postponing the enforcement of a sentence, particularly a death sentence, to allow an appeal
- Reprieve (death sentence), a criminal punishment pronounced in place of the death penalty in China's law.
- Reprieve (organisation), a group of organisations working against the death penalty
- Reprieve (album), a 2006 album by Ani DiFranco
- The Reprieve, a 1947 novel by Jean-Paul Sartre
Reprieve is a nonprofit organisation of international lawyers and investigators whose stated goal is to "fight for the victims of extreme human rights abuses with legal action and public education". Their main focus is on unlawful treatment of prisoners; in the past they have opposed the death penalty and indefinite detention without trial (such as in Guantanamo). It also provides legal support for those facing the death penalty or held in secret prisons around the world. The founding Reprieve organisation is in the UK, and there are also organisations in the United States, Australia and the Netherlands, with additional supporters and volunteers worldwide.
Reprieve is the fifteenth studio album by singer-songwriter Ani DiFranco, released on August 8, 2006.
Righteous Babe Records' website notes that only DiFranco's bassist Todd Sickafoose, who had accompanied her on her recent tours, would be performing on the album. The album has a dark, mournful, mellow sound reminiscent of 1999's To the Teeth and 2004's Educated Guess and features experimental arrangements with synthesizers, electronics and tape manipulation.
As the recording of the album was briefly interrupted due to the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, the album has a heavily political and vaguely conceptual undercurrent that "paints a haunting portrait of New Orleans as the water retreats and the natives continue to rebuild their lives."
The album cover was inspired by a picture of a real tree in Nagasaki which was partially destroyed by the atomic bomb. While the city around it lay in ruin, this one tree stood, half of it destroyed, the other untouched. DiFranco also references the eucalyptus tree in the title track about the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
While the official release date of Reprieve was August 8, the album was made available for purchase on the iTunes Music Store between June 24 and June 27, 2006, possibly in error, as the album date on the site was listed as 2002.
Usage examples of "reprieve".
Torgau we had all read the letter or heard the news and were convinced that Heinz Berner, by some miracle, had been granted a reprieve.
The Bravo ceased to adjust the disguise of his companion, and the profound stillness which succeeded his remark proved so painful to Antonio, that he felt like one reprieved from suffocation, when he heard the deep respiration that announced the relief of his companion.
The dog was an unkempt black-and-brown mongrel with a reprieved expression.
Alvito was thanking God fervently for His mercy and favor at the unexpected reprieve.
Marie-Jeanne Trumeau was reprieved by personal intervention of Reveillon himself.
It was a typical error of the early days of H2S, and Hamburg gained another reprieve when most of the Main Force dropped their bombs in the wrong place.
But the only defence was insanity, and even when the jury refused to accept it and the judge had to pass sentence of death nearly everybody expected that a reprieve would follow and that the prisoner would go to Broadmoor and not to the scaffold.
The drawdown was not a permanent reprieve, merely an incident in a bureaucratic summer.
The only thing that being married to another scientist had gotten Nate was a reprieve from being asked what he was thinking about while lying in bed in a postcoital cuddle.
Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices, and he shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.
Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices, and he shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.
I heard that he became a butcher, as did Reg Presley from the Troggs, before he gained a temporary reprieve when some nineties band took one of his songs to the top of the charts again and he got some royalties in.
His eyes darted from the bulkheads to me, and back, slowly taking in his reprieve.
Minna had been allowed such reprieve as her thirty-five cents would purchase.
In Sacramento was a railroad Governor who might reprieve or even pardon bank-wreckers and grafters, but who dared not lift his finger for a workingman.