1
general::
Phrase(s): cease and desist
to completely stop doing something. (A legal phrase.) • The judge ordered the merchant to cease and desist the deceptive practices. • When they were ordered to cease and desist, they finally stopped.
McGrawhill's American Idioms And Phrasal Verbs
2
general::
Stop, leave off doing something, as in: "Bliss excavated at least once on his own and Dr. Brand . . . told him to cease and desist" (Douglas Preston quoting Frank Hibben, The New Yorker, June 12, 1995). This legal term is a redundancy, since cease and desist mean virtually the same thing, but often appears in legal documents to avoid possible misinterpretation. [c. 1920]
American Heritage Idioms