I. QUANTIFIER USES
Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English.
1.
The rest is used to refer to all the parts of something or all the things in a group that remain or that you have not already mentioned.
It was an experience I will treasure for the rest of my life...
He was unable to travel to Barcelona with the rest of the team.
QUANT: QUANT of def-n
•
Rest is also a pronoun.
Only 55 per cent of the raw material is canned. The rest is thrown away.
PRON
2.
You can add and the rest or all the rest of it to the end of a statement or list when you want to refer in a vague way to other things that are associated with the ones you have already mentioned. (SPOKEN)
...a man with nice clothes, a Range Rover and the rest...
PHRASE [vagueness]
II. VERB AND NOUN USES
(rests, resting, rested)
Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English.
Please look at category 18 to see if the expression you are looking for is shown under another headword.
1.
If you rest or if you rest your body, you do not do anything active for a time.
He's tired and exhausted, and has been advised to rest for two weeks...
Try to rest the injured limb as much as possible.
VERB: V, V n
2.
If you get some rest or have a rest, you do not do anything active for a time.
'You're worn out, Laura,' he said. 'Go home and get some rest.'...
N-VAR
3.
If something such as a theory or someone's success rests on a particular thing, it depends on that thing. (FORMAL)
Such a view rests on a number of incorrect assumptions...
= depend
VERB: V on/upon n/wh
4.
If authority, a responsibility, or a decision rests with you, you have that authority or responsibility, or you are the one who will make that decision. (FORMAL)
The final decision rested with the President.
VERB: V with n
5.
If you rest something somewhere, you put it there so that its weight is supported.
He rested his arms on the back of the chair...
= lean
VERB: V n prep
6.
If something is resting somewhere, or if you are resting it there, it is in a position where its weight is supported.
His head was resting on her shoulder...
He had been resting his head in his hands, deep in thought.
VERB: V prep/adv, V n prep/adv
7.
If you rest on or against someone or something, you lean on them so that they support the weight of your body.
He rested on his pickaxe for a while.
= lean
VERB: V prep
8.
A rest is an object that is used to support something, especially your head, arms, or feet.
When you are sitting, keep your elbow on the arm rest.
N-COUNT: usu n N
9.
If your eyes rest on a particular person or object, you look directly at them, rather than somewhere else. (WRITTEN)
As she spoke, her eyes rested on her husband's face.
VERB: V on/upon n
10.
11.
When an object that has been moving comes to rest, it finally stops. (FORMAL)
The plane had plowed a path through a patch of forest before coming to rest in a field.
PHRASE: V inflects
12.
If you say that someone can rest easy, you mean that they don't need to worry about a particular situation.
How can any woman rest easy now, knowing her breast cancer may be misdiagnosed?
PHRASE
13.
If someone tells you to give something a rest, they want you to stop doing it because it annoys them or because they think it is harming you. (INFORMAL)
Give it a rest, will you. We're trying to get some sleep...
PHRASE: V inflects
14.
If you say that someone who has died is laid to rest, you mean that they are buried.
His dying wish was to be laid to rest at the church near his Somerset home.
PHRASE: V inflects
15.
If you lay something such as fears or rumours to rest or if you put them to rest, you succeed in proving that they are not true.
His speech should lay those fears to rest...
= allay
PHRASE: V inflects
16.
If someone refuses to let a subject rest, they refuse to stop talking about it, especially after they have been talking about it for a long time.
I am not prepared to let this matter rest...
= drop
PHRASE: V inflects
17.
To put someone's mind at rest or set their mind at rest means to tell them something that stops them worrying.
A brain scan last Friday finally set his mind at rest.
= reassure
PHRASE: V and N inflect
18.
to
rest on your
laurels: see
laurel
to
rest in peace: see
peace