cess
Meanings
Plural: cesses
Noun
- a ductile grey metallic element of the lanthanide series; used in lighter flints; the most abundant of the rare-earth group
- An assessed tax, duty, or levy; billeting.
- Usually preceded by good or (more commonly) bad: luck or success.
- Bound; measure.
- 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.
- A bog, in particular a peat bog.
- A piece of peat, or a turf, particularly when dried for use as fuel.
Verb
- To levy a cess.
- To cease; to neglect.
Origin / Etymology
For the first meaning below, the writings of Edmund Spenser, published 1633, point to a borrowing from Irish cís (“tax, tribute, cess, rent”), likely from Latin census.
Other senses: Uncertain. Occurs in print at least as early as 1831, when Samuel Lover used the expression as one already long-established. He unambiguously stated the derivation of cess in the malediction bad cess to be an abbreviation of success. The OED speculated that it either was from success or from assessment meaning a military or governmental exaction. The verb is attested in Middle English (cessen).
Synonyms
atomic number 58, Ce, cerium
Scrabble Score: 6
cess is a valid Scrabble (US) TWL wordcess is a valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
cess is a valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary