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]

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