From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishgive something a restgive something a restspoken to stop doing an activity I gave the acting a rest for a while. → rest
Examples from the Corpus
give something a rest• Now you can give your imagination a rest.• On first hearing, I prematurely thought Vin Garbutt had given abortion a rest.• I think you should just give it a rest for a few weeks.• They must give you the rest of the story themselves.• We would here stress the importance of giving plenty of rests to the double basses.• On holiday you might like to give your feet a rest and not wear socks.• There was a reason for stopping, at least a reason to give it a rest.• The subs off the Washington bench contribute thirty-three points while giving the starters a rest. 