The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Abeyance \A*bey"ance\, n. [OF. abeance expectation, longing; a
   (L. ad) + baer, beer, to gape, to look with open mouth, to
   expect, F. bayer, LL. badare to gape.]
   1. (Law) Expectancy; condition of being undetermined.
      [1913 Webster]

   Note: When there is no person in existence in whom an
         inheritance (or a dignity) can vest, it is said to be
         in abeyance, that is, in expectation; the law
         considering it as always potentially existing, and
         ready to vest whenever a proper owner appears.
         --Blackstone.
         [1913 Webster]

   2. Suspension; temporary suppression.
      [1913 Webster]

            Keeping the sympathies of love and admiration in a
            dormant state, or state of abeyance.  --De Quincey.
      [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

abeyance
    n 1: temporary cessation or suspension [syn: abeyance,
         suspension]

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

68 Moby Thesaurus words for "abeyance":
   abandonment, abjuration, abjurement, apathy, break, caesura,
   catalepsy, catatonia, cease-fire, cessation, cold storage, day off,
   deadliness, deathliness, desistance, discontinuance, doldrums,
   dormancy, drop, entropy, forbearance, hesitation, holiday,
   indifference, indolence, inertia, inertness, interim, interlude,
   intermezzo, intermission, intermittence, interruption, interval,
   languor, lapse, latency, layoff, letup, lotus-eating, lull,
   nonexercise, passiveness, passivity, pause, quiescence, quiescency,
   recess, relinquishment, remission, renouncement, renunciation,
   resignation, respite, rest, stagnancy, stagnation, stand-down,
   stasis, stay, suspense, suspension, torpor, truce, vacation,
   vegetation, vis inertiae, waiver



Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):

ABEYANCE, estates, from the French aboyer, which in figurative sense means
to expect, to look for, to desire. When there is no person in esse in whom
the freehold is vested, it is said to be in abeyance, that is, in
expectation, remembrance and contemplation.
     2. The law requires, however, that the freehold should never, if
possible, be in abeyance. Where there is a tenant of the freehold, the
remainder or reversion in fee may exist for a time without any particular
owner, in which  case it is said to be in abeyance. 9 Serg. & R.. 367; 8
Plowd. 29 a. b 35 a.
     3. Thus, if sn estate be limited to A for life, remainder to the right
heirs of B, the fee simple is in abeyance during the life of B, because it
is a maxim of law, that nemo est hoeres viventis. 2 Bl. Com. 107; 1 Cruise,
67-70; 1 Inst. 842, Merlin, Repertoire, mot Abeyance; 1 Com. Dig. 176; 1
Vin. Abr. 101.
     4. Another example may be given in the case of a corporation. When a
charter is given, and the charter grants franchises or property to a
corporation which is to be brought into existence by some future acts of the
corporators, such franchises or property are in abeyance until such acts
shall be done, and when the corporation is thereby brought into life, the
franchises instantaneously attach. 4 Wheat. 691. See, generally, 2 Mass.
500; 7 Mass. 445; 10 Mass. 93; 15 Mass. 464; 9 Cranch, 47. 293; 5 Mass. 555.