recess (iou) and Arctic (iou)

recess noun & verb. E16.
[Latin recessus, from recess- pa. ppl stem of recedere RECEDE verb1.]
A. noun.
a. An agreement. Only in E16.
b. Hist. A resolution or decree of the Diet of the Holy Roman Empire or the Hanseatic League. E18.
The action of withdrawing or departing from or to a place. M16-L17.
b. fig. A departure from some state or standard. Only in 17.
c. The action of withdrawing from public life; privacy, seclusion; a period of retirement. M17-M18.
The action, esp. by water, of receding or going back or away from a certain point. arch. E17.
A period of cessation from work or business, esp. of a legislative body or (chiefly N. Amer.) of a court of law or during a school day. E17.
J. B. Morton The Commons..reassembled after the Christmas recess. D. Cusack There'll be a Staff Meeting at Recess. N. Barber I will grant a ten-minute recess.
b. Delay; respite. rare. E17-E18.
c. Relaxation, leisure. Only in 18.
A remote, secluded, or secret place; in pl., the remotest or innermost parts of a thing (lit. & fig.). E17.
L. Strachey In the recesses of the palace her..figure was..omnipresent. A. Storr Traits..have their place within the recesses of our..psyches.
a. Physical Geography. A receding part or indentation in a mountain range, coast, etc. L17.
b. A space set back in a wall; a niche, an alcove. L18.
P. D. James A..fireplace, the two recesses fitted with..bookshelves.
c. Any small depression or indentation. M19.
d. The room for slopping out in a prison. Usu. in pl. Criminals' slang. M20.
Comb.: recess-printed adjective (of a stamp) printed by the recess printing method; recess printing a method of printing stamps so that the design is slightly raised from the surface.
b. verb.
verb trans. Place in a recess; set back. E19.
verb trans. Make a recess or recesses in. L19.
Chiefly N. Amer.
a. verb intrans. Take a recess; adjourn. L19.
b. verb trans. Order (a meeting etc.) into recess; adjourn. M20.

Arctic (iou)

Arctic adjective & noun. Also arctic; (earlier) Artic. LME.
[Old French artique (mod. arct-) from Latin ar(c)ticus from Greek arktikos, from arktos bear, the Great Bear (constellation): see -IC.]
A. adjective.
Of or pertaining to the north pole, or the north polar regions. Formerly also gen., northern. LME.
Arctic Circle the parallel of latitude 66 33' N. Arctic Ocean the (chiefly ice-covered) ocean bounded by the north coasts of Eurasia and N. America.
b. Designating animals and plants of northern species. L18.
Arctic char, Arctic cisco, Arctic grayling, Arctic skipper, Arctic skua, Arctic willow, etc. Arctic fox a small fox, Alopex lagopus, whose coat turns white in winter and which occurs on the tundra of Eurasia and N. America; the fur of this fox. Arctic hare (a) a hare, Lepus arcticus, of Greenland and Arctic Canada, whose coat is brown in summer and white in winter; (b) = MOUNTAIN hare. Arctic tern a migratory tern, Sterna paradisaea, which breeds mainly in northern Eurasia and N. America but winters mainly in Antarctic regions.
c. (Usu. arctic.) Characterized by or typical of the very cold climate of the north polar regions. L19.
fig. Bitterly cold. Formerly also, extreme, remote. L17.
b. noun.
The north polar regions. LME.
In pl. (arctic.) Thick waterproof overshoes. N. Amer. M19.

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