All 23 Uses of

cease
in
Sense and Sensibility

Mrs. Dashwood remained at Norland several months; not from any disinclination to move when the sight of every well known spot ceased to raise the violent emotion which it produced for a while; for when her spirits began to revive, and her mind became capable of some other exertion than that of heightening its affliction by melancholy remembrances, she was impatient to be gone, and indefatigable in her inquiries for a suitable dwelling in the neighbourhood of Norland; for to remove far from that beloved spot was impossible.†
Chpt 3

ceased = stopped or discontinued

"Dear, dear Norland!" said Marianne, as she wandered alone before the house, on the last evening of their being there; "when shall I cease to regret you!†
Chpt 5

cease = stop or discontinue

To enquire after Marianne was at first his excuse; but the encouragement of his reception, to which every day gave greater kindness, made such an excuse unnecessary before it had ceased to be possible, by Marianne's perfect recovery.†
Chpt 10

ceased = stopped or discontinued

Colonel Brandon's partiality for Marianne, which had so early been discovered by his friends, now first became perceptible to Elinor, when it ceased to be noticed by them.†
Chpt 10

She would have been glad to know when these difficulties were to cease, this opposition was to yield,—when Mrs. Ferrars would be reformed, and her son be at liberty to be happy.†
Chpt 19

cease = stop or discontinue

Mrs. Jennings, in the meantime, talked on as loud as she could, and continued her account of their surprise, the evening before, on seeing their friends, without ceasing till every thing was told.†
Chpt 19

ceasing = stopping or discontinuing

With such a reward for her tears, the child was too wise to cease crying.†
Chpt 21 *

cease = stop or discontinue

He listened to her with silent attention, and on her ceasing to speak, rose directly from his seat, and after saying in a voice of emotion, "to your sister I wish all imaginable happiness; to Willoughby that he may endeavour to deserve her,"—took leave, and went away.†
Chpt 27

ceasing = stopping or discontinuing

The good understanding between the Colonel and Miss Dashwood seemed rather to declare that the honours of the mulberry-tree, the canal, and the yew arbour, would all be made over to HER; and Mrs. Jennings had, for some time ceased to think at all of Mrs. Ferrars.†
Chpt 32

ceased = stopped or discontinued

When that was once done, however, it was time for the raptures of Edward to cease; for Marianne's joy hurried her into the drawing-room immediately.†
Chpt 35

cease = stop or discontinue

Here Mrs. Jennings ceased, and as Elinor had had time enough to collect her thoughts, she was able to give such an answer, and make such observations, as the subject might naturally be supposed to produce.†
Chpt 37

ceased = stopped or discontinued

Happy to find that she was not suspected of any extraordinary interest in it; that Mrs. Jennings (as she had of late often hoped might be the case) had ceased to imagine her at all attached to Edward; and happy above all the rest, in the absence of Marianne, she felt very well able to speak of the affair without embarrassment, and to give her judgment, as she believed, with impartiality on the conduct of every one concerned in it.†
Chpt 37

For a short time he sat deep in thought, after Elinor had ceased to speak;—at last, and as if it were rather an effort, he said, "Colonel Brandon seems a man of great worth and respectability.†
Chpt 40

The kindness, the unceasing kindness of Mrs. Jennings, I had repaid with ungrateful contempt.†
Chpt 46

Here ceased the rapid flow of her self-reproving spirit; and Elinor, impatient to soothe, though too honest to flatter, gave her instantly that praise and support which her frankness and her contrition so well deserved.†
Chpt 46

ceased = stopped or discontinued

When Elinor had ceased to rejoice in the dryness of the season, a very awful pause took place.†
Chpt 48

She almost ran out of the room, and as soon as the door was closed, burst into tears of joy, which at first she thought would never cease.†
Chpt 48

cease = stop or discontinue

He was released without any reproach to himself, from an entanglement which had long formed his misery, from a woman whom he had long ceased to love;—and elevated at once to that security with another, which he must have thought of almost with despair, as soon as he had learnt to consider it with desire.†
Chpt 49

ceased = stopped or discontinued

The whole of Lucy's behaviour in the affair, and the prosperity which crowned it, therefore, may be held forth as a most encouraging instance of what an earnest, an unceasing attention to self-interest, however its progress may be apparently obstructed, will do in securing every advantage of fortune, with no other sacrifice than that of time and conscience.†
Chpt 50

Definitions:

(1) (cease)
to stop or discontinue
(2) (meaning too rare to warrant focus)
meaning too rare to warrant focus:

Note that the expression, cease fire means to stop doing battle such as firing funs at each other. Similarly, the noun, cease-fire, is a state of having stopped doing battle.