- suspension (n.)
- early 15c., "temporary halting or deprivation," from Latin suspensionem (nominative suspensio) "the act or state of hanging up, a vaulting," from past participle stem of suspendere "to hang" (see suspend).
A semblance of truth sufficient to procure for these shadows of imagination that willing suspension of disbelief for the moment, which constitutes poetic faith. [Coleridge, "Biographia Literaria," 1817]
Meaning "action of hanging by a support from above" is attested from 1540s. Suspension bridge first recorded 1821.