Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Discontinuance \Dis`con*tin"u*ance\, n.
   1. The act of discontinuing, or the state of being
      discontinued; want of continued connection or continuity;
      breaking off; cessation; interruption; as, a
      discontinuance of conversation or intercourse;
      discontinuance of a highway or of travel.

   2. (Law)
      (a) A breaking off or interruption of an estate, which
          happened when an alienation was made by a tenant in
          tail, or other tenant, seized in right of another, of
          a larger estate than the tenant was entitled to,
          whereby the party ousted or injured was driven to his
          real action, and could not enter. This effect of such
          alienation is now obviated by statute in both England
          and the United States.
      (b) The termination of an action in practice by the
          voluntary act of the plaintiff; an entry on the record
          that the plaintiff discontinues his action.
      (c) That technical interruption of the proceedings in
          pleading in an action, which follows where a defendant
          does not answer the whole of the plaintiff's
          declaration, and the plaintiff omits to take judgment
          for the part unanswered. --Wharton's Law Dict.
          Burrill.

   Syn: Cessation; intermission; discontinuation; separation;
        disunion; disjunction; disruption; break.

Source : WordNet®

discontinuance
     n : the act of discontinuing or breaking off; an interruption
         (temporary or permanent) [syn: {discontinuation}] [ant: {continuance},
          {continuance}]