吊在半空
最字面的一面：東西真的被吊著，或小顆粒懸在液體與空氣裡。
suspend, hang from above · verb · B2
to fix something to a high place so that it hangs down and does not touch the ground.
懸掛
核心畫面
Picture something hanging from above with nothing under it — a lamp on a chain, a dust floating in a . It has not fallen and it has not landed; it is held in between. Every use keeps that in-between. A service that is suspended has not ended, a player who is suspended has not been sacked, and judgment that is suspended has not been made.
可以想成：某樣東西從上面吊著，底下沒有依靠——鏈子上的燈、陽光裡飄著的灰塵。它沒有掉下去，也沒有落地，就停在中間。s…更多收起
可以想成：某樣東西從上面吊著，底下沒有依靠——鏈子上的燈、陽光裡飄著的灰塵。它沒有掉下去，也沒有落地，就停在中間。suspend 的每一個用法都保留了這個「懸在中間」：服務被 suspend 不等於結束，球員被 suspend 不等於被開除，判斷被 suspend 也不等於下了結論。From the word’s history
Suspend is from Latin suspendere 'to hang up' (sub- 'up from under' + pendere 'to hang'). The literal hanging sense is in English by the mid-15th century; debarring someone from an office or privilege goes back to about 1300 via Old French sospendre 'remove from office; hang up'; holding a judgment undetermined appears in the 1550s, and 'cease operating for a time' by the 1570s.
suspend 來自拉丁文 suspendere「吊起來」（sub-「從下往上」＋ pendere「懸掛」）。字面的「懸掛」在十五世紀中葉進入英文；「暫時停止某人的職務或資格」更早，約 1300 年就經由古法文 sospendre（免職、吊起）進來；「先不下判斷」出現在 1550 年代，「暫時停止運作」則見於 1570 年代。所以「停職」「暫停」不是後來硬加的比喻，而是同一個「吊在半空」的畫面。
Online Etymology Dictionary (etymonline.com), entry "suspend"
Three branches
讓正在進行的事停在半空
把懸空搬到事情上：它沒有結束，只是被吊在那裡，之後還會放下來繼續。
suspend, stop temporarily · verb · B1
to stop something for a short time, in an official way, so that it can start again later.
暫停；中止
讓心裡的判斷先不落地
被吊起來的變成你自己的結論：先不讓它落下來，好讓事情有空間發展。
suspend, delay judgment · verb · C1
to wait before you decide what you think about someone or something, until you know more.
暫不下判斷
原始詞典資料9 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，原文照列，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
suspendverb/səsˈpɛnd/
- 1
To halt something temporarily.
- The meeting was suspended for lunch.
- Suspend your indignation against my brother.
- 2
To hold in an undetermined or undecided state.
- suspending out judgement
- 3
To discontinue or interrupt a function, task, position, or event.
- to suspend a thread of execution in a computer program
- 4
To hang freely; underhang.
- to suspend a ball by a thread
- The underframe also carries four bonded-rubber mountings, focused upwards and inwards towards the centre of gravity to suspend the body shell.
- 5
To bring a solid substance, usually in powder form, into suspension in a liquid.
- 6
obsoleteTo make to depend.
- God hath all along in the Scripture suspended the promise of eternal life on the condition of obedience and holiness of life.
- 7
To debar, or cause to withdraw temporarily, from any privilege, from the execution of an office, from the enjoyment of income, etc.
- to suspend a student from college; to suspend a member of a club
- Whether good men should be suspended from the exercise of their ministry , and deprived of their livelyhood for ceremonies which are on all hands acknowledged indifferent.
- 8
chemistrynatural-sciencesphysical-sciencesTo support in a liquid, as an insoluble powder, by stirring, to facilitate chemical action.
另外 1 個記錄的用法
- 9
aeronauticsaerospaceaviationTo remove the value of an unused coupon from an air ticket, typically so as to allow continuation of the next sectors' travel.
資料來源：英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary（CC BY-SA 4.0）。 原文照列，未經改寫。