intermission

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun An interval between periods of activity, as between the acts of a play. synonym: pause.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun The act of intermitting, or the state of being intermitted; temporary cessation; pause: as, to labor without intermission; intermission of the pulse.
• noun In medicine, the temporary cessation or subsidence of a disease, as fever; interval between paroxysms. Intermission is an entire cessation, as distinguished from remission or abatement of fever.
• noun Period of cessation; an intervening time; interval; specifically, recess at school.
• noun Interference.
• noun Synonyms and Rest, Suspension, etc. (see stop, n.), interval, interruption, respite.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun The act or the state of intermitting; the state of being neglected or disused; disuse; discontinuance.
• noun Cessation for a time; an intervening period of time; an interval; a temporary pause
• noun The short period between acts of a play, concert, opera, or other public performance when the audience may leave their seats for refreshment; -- it usually lasts from 10 to 20 minutes.
• noun (Med.) The temporary cessation or subsidence of a fever; the space of time between the paroxysms of a disease. Intermission is an entire cessation, as distinguished from remission, or abatement of fever.
• noun obsolete Intervention; interposition.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun A break between two performances or sessions, such as at a concert, play, seminar, or religious assembly.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun the act of suspending activity temporarily
• noun a time interval during which there is a temporary cessation of something