A state of restful calm.
A state of restful calm — peaceful rest or tranquil stillness, often of the body and in a literary register.
Restful calm distinguished by its association with physical rest, reclining, or stillness, and by a literary, elevated register — it often denotes the body or a figure at rest (“the face in repose”). Narrower and more physical than peace; emphasizes stillness and rest rather than the unexcitable temperament of placidity or the comfort of ease; a sustained restful state, not the easing of a specific trouble (relief). It overlaps poise (“composure of manner”) but adds restful stillness. (A separate verb, “repose trust in,” is etymologically unrelated.)
c. 1500, a back-formation from the verb repose “lie at rest,” from Late Latin repausare “cause to rest” (re- + pausare “to stop, pause”).
The “rest/sleep” senses are original (mid-15c. verb, c. 1500 noun); the abstract “state of quiet, freedom from disturbance” emerged by the 1650s. A homographic verb meaning “place trust in” (from Latin reponere “put back”) is distinct. No reliable recent-generation shift.