stoppage

From stop +‎ -age.

stoppage (plural stoppages)

1. A pause or halt of some activity.

   Synonyms: hiatus, moratorium, recess; see also Thesaurus:pause

   • 1944 May and June, “When the Circle was Steam Operated”, in Railway Magazine, page 150:

     The length of the stoppages could not well be reduced; indeed, they are already too short if we are to believe the tale now current of a wandering Jew sort of passenger—a lady of advanced years who can only alight from a train backwards. Every time she begins to get out a porter rushes up crying "Hurry up, ma'am; train's going!"—and pushes her in again!

   • 1961 February, “Talking of Trains: Automated trains in New York”, in Trains Illustrated, page 78:

     The brakes were specially developed by the Westinghouse Air Brake Company to provide smooth stoppages under automatic operation.

   • 1964 June, “Motive Power Miscellany: BR Workshops”, in Modern Railways, page 432:

     A "who-does-what" labour dispute at Swindon works during April led to a stoppage of work on the construction of the new 0-6-0 Type 1 diesel-hydraulic locomotives of the D9500 series and work had not been resumed as we closed for press.

   • 2024 February 7, Philip Haigh, “Railway's fragile resilience”, in RAIL, number 1002, page 3:

     The laws are controversial. Forcing someone to work during a lawful strike is a major step. It was always likely to inflame a situation, and so it proved with LNER. ASLEF's counter-tactic came as a five-day walkout, which would have been the longest stoppage for many years had LNER not withdrawn its plan.

2. Something that forms an obstacle to continued activity; a blockage or obstruction.

• stoppage time