cease and desist
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Related to cease and desist: cease and desist order
cease and desist
To stop doing something. This phrase is typically associated with legal matters. We received a letter ordering us to cease and desist due to copyright infringement, so we had to halt production.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2015 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
cease and desist
to completely stop doing something. (A legal phrase.) The judge ordered the merchant to cease and desist the deceptive practices. When they were ordered to cease and desist, they finally stopped.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
cease and desist
Stop, leave off doing something, as in: "Bliss excavated at least once on his own and Dr. Brand ... told him to cease and desist" (Douglas Preston quoting Frank Hibben, The New Yorker, June 12, 1995). This legal term is a redundancy, since cease and desist mean virtually the same thing, but often appears in legal documents to avoid possible misinterpretation. [c. 1920]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.