continuance

Noun

continuance (countable and uncountable, plural continuances)

1. (uncountable) The action of continuing.
   • Now stands the Brere like a lord alone, / Puffed up with pryde and vaine pleasaunce. / But all this glee had no continuaunce: / For eftsones winter gan to approche; / The blustering Boreas did encroche, / And beate upon the solitarie Brere; / For nowe no succoure was seene him nere.1579, Immeritô [pseudonym; Edmund Spenser], The Shepheardes Calender: Conteyning Tvvelue Æglogues Proportionable to the Twelue Monethes. …, London: Printed by Hugh Singleton, OCLC; republished in...
   • In the living state, the body is observed to […] adopt most effectual measures for the permanent continuance of its species.1822, John Barclay, chapter I, in An Inquiry Into the Opinions, Ancient and Modern, Concerning Life and Organization, Edinburgh; London: Bell & Bradfute; Waugh & Innes; G. & W. B. Whittaker, section...

   Synonyms:

   perdurance

2. The period during which something continues or goes on; duration.
   • The gentlemen of the mission were present at a splendid festival, called "The Yam Custom." […] During the continuance of it, (as in the ancient Saturnalia) neither theft, intrigue, nor assault, are punishable, but licentiousness of every kind prevails.1873, T. E. Bowdich, “Mission from Cape Coast Castle to Ashantee”, in Travels in Africa, page 281
3. (US, countable) An order issued by a court granting a postponement of a legal proceeding for a set period.
   • At the submission to sufficient facts in Lowell District Court, an agreement was reached between the prosecution and the defense. Despite the continuance without a finding, the defendant was required to pay court costs of $150. The continuance means that if the defendant is not arrested on the same...1976 August 14, “Chelmsford Police Net Another”, in Gay Community News, volume 4, number 7, page 1
   • Where the Department of Homeland Security seeks to re-serve a respondent to effect proper service of a notice to appear that was defective under the regulatory requirements for serving minors under the age of 14, a continuance should be granted for that purpose.2016 December 16, Anne J. Greer, Matter of W-A-F-C-, Respondent, Board of Immigration Appeals, 26 I&N Dec. 880 (BIA 2016), archived from the original on 24 Jun 2021, page 880