All 4 Uses

cease
in
The Railway Children
(Edited)

...and in this concealment he lurked till the small thing on the top of the heap ceased to scrabble and rattle, came to the edge of the heap, cautiously let itself down, and lifted something after it.
p. 39.1

ceased = stopped or discontinued
But the engine-driver took the little engine and looked at it — and the fireman ceased for an instant to shovel coal, and looked, too.
p. 82.6 *
[describing the landslide] The trees, ceasing to walk, stood still and shivered. Leaning with the rock, they seemed to hesitate a moment, and then rock and trees and grass and bushes, with a rushing sound, slipped right away from the face of the cutting and fell on the line with a blundering crash that could have been heard half a mile off.
p. 112.8

ceasing = stopping or discontinuing
Mother put her head out of the window, and it wasn't half a minute after that she was in the garden kneeling by the side of Peter, who never for an instant ceased to squeal.
p. 188.3

ceased = stopped or discontinued

Definitions:

(1) (cease)
to stop or discontinue
(2) (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.