reprieve

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
reprieve/rɪˈpriːv/

▶verb

• 1 cancel the punishment of.

• 2 abandon or postpone plans to close (something).

▶noun

• 1 a cancellation of a punishment.

• 2 a brief respite.

– origin C15 (as the past part. repryed): from Anglo-Norman Fr. repris, past part. of reprendre, from L. re- ‘back’ + prehendere ‘seize’.