Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun An agreement between lovers to meet at a certain time and place.
- noun A usually private meeting or meeting place that has been agreed on by lovers. synonym: engagement.
- intransitive verb To keep a tryst.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun Same as
trust , in various senses. - noun An appointment to meet; an appointed meeting: as, to keep tryst; to break tryst.
- noun An appointed place of meeting; a rendezvous.
- noun An appointed meeting for the exchange of commodities; a market: as, Falkirk tryst (a noted horse- and cattle-market held at Falkirk in Scotland).
- Same as
trust , in various senses. - To make an appointment to meet at a given time and place; engage to meet.
- To agree to meet at any particular time or place.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun obsolete Trust.
- noun Scot. or Poetic An appointment to meet; also, an appointed place or time of meeting.
- noun to wait, at the appointed time, for one with whom a tryst or engagement is made; to keep an engagement or appointment.
- intransitive verb Scot. To mutually agree to meet at a certain place.
- transitive verb obsolete To trust.
- transitive verb Scot. To agree with to meet at a certain place; to make an appointment with.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A prearranged
meeting orassignation , now especially betweenlovers to meet at a specific place and time. - noun obsolete A mutual agreement, a
covenant . - verb intransitive To make a tryst; to agree to meet at a place.
- verb transitive To
arrange orappoint (a meeting time etc.). - verb intransitive To keep a tryst, to meet at an agreed place and time.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a secret rendezvous (especially between lovers)
- noun a date; usually with a member of the opposite sex
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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New York tabloids jumped on what one called his tryst fund, and in an interview with Katie Couric, Rudy cried foul.
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In the middle of the studio a large wooden canvas painted blue with a black lined pulp inspired tryst is lifted by three studio assistants to rest on blocks against the wall so that it's bottom can be painted.
Jaime Rojo & Steven Harrington: Faile Tells You 'Bedtime Stories' Jaime Rojo 2010
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Mr. Bush’s tryst is said to involve Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Think Progress » Bush Fabricates Threat To Marriage, Blames ‘Activist Judges’ 2006
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Their hushed face-to-face, in which we learn their tryst was a one-nighter, is fraught with concern over Alicia.
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Zuma insists she implicitly asked for it and called the tryst consensual.
Andrew Belonsky: Will Jacob Zuma's South Africa Be Democracy's Shame? 2009
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You can call their tryst and its consequences a metaphor of two generations of Germans passing guilt from one to the next, but that doesn't explain why filmmakers Daldry and Hare luxuriated in the sex scenes -- and why it's so tastefully done audiences won't see it for the child pornography it is.
Thelma Adams: Reading Between the Lines in The Reader: When is Abuse Not Abuse? 2009
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Our tryst was a cave where a little water called the Dyve Burn had cut its way through the cliffs to the sea.
Prester John 2005
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Our tryst was a cave where a little water called the Dyve Burn had cut its way through the cliffs to the sea.
Prester John John Buchan 1907
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Y: Moses said: "Your tryst is the Day of the Festival, and let the people be assembled when the sun is well up."
Three Translations of The Koran (Al-Qur'an) side by side Abdullah Yusuf Ali 1902
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Padre, that the failure of the prince to keep our tryst was the biggest disappointment and the sharpest humiliation of my life.
Everyman's Land 1889
dreamiegrl commented on the word tryst
I love this word. It is so romantic, so free. It evokes suspense, passion - like a secret life of desire. I crave this word.
December 11, 2006
seanahan commented on the word tryst
I like that it portrays a simple, whimsical sort of affair.
December 12, 2006
mikepurvis commented on the word tryst
Having a single-syllable word for affair is great, especially for colouring otherwise bland narratives: "The design firm spent a year courting various manufacturers, but only one was interested, and alas, managerial differences doomed their relationship to being nothing more than an unfruitful tryst."
December 15, 2006
arby commented on the word tryst
I used to think it rhymed with iced.
July 5, 2007
jennarenn commented on the word tryst
dictionary.com gives thes following pronunciations: trist, trahyst. I can't make heads or tails of the second one. Too many consonants.
July 5, 2007
uselessness commented on the word tryst
I think that second one is actually meant to rhyme with iced, as spoken by Zsa Zsa Gabor. Read it just as printed, and the Y should be pronounced as a long I. I think.
July 5, 2007
jennarenn commented on the word tryst
That's how I've always said it, but I have trouble getting the /h/ in there.
July 5, 2007
arby commented on the word tryst
But it's supposed to rhyme with wrist right?
July 6, 2007
reesetee commented on the word tryst
That's how I've always pronounced it.
July 6, 2007
jennarenn commented on the word tryst
There's a club in DC by the name of Tryst that everybody always pronouces with a long-i sound. Could it be regional?
July 6, 2007
reesetee commented on the word tryst
Could be, jennarenn. Or maybe that club likes to foster an alternate pronunciation?
July 6, 2007
uselessness commented on the word tryst
I've always pronounced it to rhyme with "iced." Well, I'm not sure that I've ever pronounced it, out loud, to anyone... it's not really a common word. But I've imagined it to rhyme with "iced," and that's why I'm part of the problem.
July 6, 2007
seanahan commented on the word tryst
Every source I can find says that it should rhyme with wrist. It certainly isn't common, but I wouldn't say it is rare. I've used it a number of times, of course, if you post here, you aren't a good judge of someone who uses "common" words.
July 7, 2007
arby commented on the word tryst
I think it's one of those words that if you've never heard it pronounced you would think it rhymed with iced, but I believe seanahan is right that it should be pronounced to rhyme with wrist. Tricky English!
July 9, 2007
dgstone commented on the word tryst
I use this word on a regular basis. It is used in literature, music and TV, so I am a little stunned that people don't know how its pronounced.
March 21, 2008
rolig commented on the word tryst
I'm sure the standard pronunciation is with a short i, rhyming with "wrist" or (more to the point) "cyst". In normal English pronunciation, "y", when used as a vowel, behaves just like "i", which means that when followed by two consonantal phonemes, without a silent "e" at the end to indicate a long vowel, it is pronounced like the "i" in "hit". Also, notice that it doesn't mean an "affair" or a "fling", but only a planned meeting, a date or rendezvous.
March 22, 2008