DictionaryAI

tryst

TRIST/tɹɪst/

Pluraltrysts

Verbtrysts, trysting, trysted

5 meanings of tryst

Practice

  1. 1
    romantic meetingnouncountable
    A meeting arranged in advance, now especially one between lovers at an agreed time and place.

    The couple slipped away for a midnight tryst in the rose garden.

    Their weekly trysts at a quiet cafe went on for months before anyone noticed.

    Similarrendezvous, assignation, liaison, date

    Note

    It began in the hunting field: Old French triste was the appointed station where a hunter waited, and English kept the agreed place at the heart of the word. Older poetry has bide tryst, to wait at the meeting spot, as Tennyson's tender-hearted maid does at the village stile. Romance came later, and the plain sense survives: Richard Dawkins in The Ancestor's Tale (2004) calls the milestones of a long journey its trysts.

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 7 facts

    • Tryst derives through Middle English from Old French triste or tristre, meaning an appointed waiting station in hunting. en.wiktionary.org
    • English retained the hunting-station sense. gutenberg.org
    • Bide tryst means to wait for someone at the appointed place and time. en.wiktionary.org
    • Tennyson uses the image of a tender-hearted maid waiting at a village stile in a simile describing Vivien. en.wikisource.org
    • The romantic sense follows the hunting origin; this ordering is inferred from the etymology. en.wiktionary.org
    • Richard Dawkins's The Ancestor's Tale was first published in 2004. en.wikipedia.org
    • Dawkins calls the milestones of his metaphorical evolutionary pilgrimage trysts. macroevolution.narod.ru
  2. 2
    verbintransitive
    To keep an arranged meeting, coming together at the agreed place and time.

    Spies who tryst at the same park bench every month are easy to catch.

    Rumors spread that the actor had been trysting with his co-star between takes.

    UsageThe partner follows with: trysting with his co-star.

    Similarrendezvous, meet

    Note

    The partner follows with, and older Scots usage can add the time and place too: in John Buchan's The Outgoing of the Tide (1902), a jealous man pleads, Tryst wi' me for Beltane's E'en on the Sker sands. Present-day use leans toward the lovers' meeting, so to be trysting with someone usually implies a secret romance rather than an ordinary appointment.

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

    • Buchan's historical Scots dialogue uses wi' for the meeting partner, for for its time, and on for its place. mail.gutenberg.net.au
    • The Outgoing of the Tide is by John Buchan and was first published in 1902, in the January Atlantic Monthly. gutenberg.net.au
    • The jealous young laird of Heriotside speaks the quoted request to Ailie; the wording, time and place are accurate. mail.gutenberg.net.au
  3. 3
    verbintransitive
    To arrange a meeting, agreeing with someone on a time and place to meet, often secretly as lovers.

Less common meanings

  1. 4
    pactnounobsolete
    An agreement made between two or more parties that binds each to the other; a covenant.
    Note

    This sense is obsolete, and it sits closest to the word's probable Norse root: treysta, to make safe, from traust, meaning confidence or trust. An agreement both sides can rely on is that idea at work, and the arranged meeting is one particular kind of promise kept.

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

  2. 5
    noundialectalScotland
    A market fair, especially one held regularly on a set schedule, where livestock was bought and sold.

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Origin

Old Norse treysta, meaning "to make safe, secure," which was based on traust ("confidence, trust, shelter"), or some other North Germanic source probably gave Old French triste ("a waiting place, an appointed station in hunting"). This became Middle English tryst or trist. The word is a doublet of trust.

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 6 facts