/tɹɪst/, /tɹaɪst/
OriginFrom Middle English tryst, trist, from Old French triste, tristre (“waiting place, appointed station in hunting”), probably from a North Germanic source such as Old Norse treysta (“to make safe, secure”), from traust (“confidence, trust, security, help, shelter, safe abode”), from Proto-Germanic *traustą (“trust, shelter”), from Proto-Indo-European *deru-, *dreu-, *drū- (“to be firm, be solid”). Doublet of trust (which see).
- A prearranged meeting or assignation, now especially between lovers to meet at a specific place and time.
“And Vivien, like the tenderest-hearted maid / That ever bided tryst at village stile, / Made answer, either eyelid wet with tears: […]”
“A silence supreme and altogether European. Shutters drawn, shops barred. A red glow here and there to mark a tryst.”
“But, for the most part, we shall mark our progress to the dawn of life by the measure of those 40 natural milestones, the trysts that enrich our pilgrimage.”
- obsoleteA mutual agreement, a covenant.
- Scotland, historicalA market fair, especially a recurring one held on a schedule, where livestock sales took place.
- intransitiveTo make a tryst; to agree to meet at a place.
- transitiveTo arrange or appoint (a meeting time etc.).
- intransitiveTo keep a tryst, to meet at an agreed place and time.
“He said he was jealous, and craved something to ease his care. 'It's but a small thing I ask,' says he, 'but it will make me a happy man, and nothing ever shall come atween us. Tryst wi' me for Beltan”
Formstrysts(plural) · trysts(present, singular, third-person) · trysting(participle, present) · trysted(participle, past) · trysted(past)