Tryst

Pronunciation

• IPA: /trɪst/
• Rhymes: -ɪst

Origin

From Middle English tryst, trist, a variant (due to the Old Norse verb treysta ("to make safe, secure")) of trust, trost, from Old Norse 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"). More at trust.

Full definition of tryst

Noun

1. A prearranged meeting or assignation, now especially between lovers to meet at a specific place and time.
• TennysonThe tenderest-hearted maid
  That ever bided tryst at village stile.
• 2004, Richard Dawkins, The Ancestor's Tale: A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Life, page 11But, 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.
• 2005, Julian Baggini, The Pig that Wants to be Eaten: And 99 other thought experiments, â„–91: “No one gets hurt”, page 271 (Granta; ISBN 1862078556, 9781862078550)If someone trusts you, what is lost if you betray that trust? As Scarlett is tempted to see it, sometimes nothing at all. If her husband remains ignorant of her tryst, then his trust in her will remain intact. ‘No one gets hurt’ runs her reasoning, so why not go ahead?
2. (obsolete) A mutual agreement, a covenant.

Verb

1. (intransitive) To make a tryst; to agree to meet at a place.
2. (transitive) To arrange or appoint (a meeting time etc.).
3. (intransitive) To keep a tryst, to meet at an agreed place and time.