Arrest, Check, and Interrupt mean to stop in midcourse.
Arrest implies a holding fixed in the midst of movement, development, or progress and usually a prevention of further advance until someone or something effects a release.
- arrest the progress of a disease
- discouragement sometimes arrests a child’s development
- books that arrest attention
Check (see also RESTRAIN) suggests suddenness and force in stopping as though bringing to a halt sharply or with a jerk.
- the entrance of the teacher checked the disturbance in the schoolroom
- he checked himself just as he was about to blurt out his indignation
- he caught her by the arm as she ran past and . . . without trying to check her, simply darted in with her and up the stairs
—Conrad
Interrupt stresses a breaking in and a consequent stopping, but it carries no clear suggestion that continuation is impossible or improbable.
- interrupt a lecture with a question
- their talk was interrupted by the arrival of visitors
- he was discouragingly interrupted at the point when ideas and words were flowing freely