Stops on French stops (9)

I believe the answer is:

surceases

'stops' is the definition.
(surcease is a kind of stop)

'on french stops' is the wordplay.
'on' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'french' becomes 'sur' (I've seen this in other clues).
'stops' becomes 'ceases' ('cease' can be a synonym of 'stop').
'sur' put next to 'ceases' is 'SURCEASES'.

(Another definition for surceases that I've seen is " stops in the past".)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.

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