Here's a sentence using the word surcease:
"Medical drugs are taken in order to surcease intolerable pain".
The definition of the word surcease is to bring or come to an end. Basically, surcease means to stop. So using the example I made earlier, a more simplified sentence would read, "Medical drugs are taken in order to bring an end to intolerable pain".
Origin of the word surcease
The word "surcease" originated in the 15th century. It's definition of "cease from an action, desist" derives from the Anglo-French word "surseser", the Old French word "sursis", and from the Latin word "supersedere".
I actually quite like the word surcease, although I rarely (if ever) hear people I know using it. These days, people are more likely to simply say "cease", or even just "stop". Still, I think it's a word that's useful to know..especially for crosswords!