adv., sb., and a. Also 7 tate a tate. [F. tête à tête adv. and sb., lit. ‘head to head’ (17th c. in Molière); cf. teste à teste together (in single combat), 16th c. in Godef., Compl.]
A. adv. Together without the presence of a third person; in private (of two persons); face to face.
1700. Congreve, Way of World, I. ix. Ay, tête-à-tête, but not in public.
1713. Swift, Hor. Sat., II. vi. 106. My lord and he are grown so great, Always together tête-à-tête.
1790. Scott, Lett. to W. Clerk, 3 Sept. I dined two days ago tête à tête with Lord Buchan.
1848. Thackeray, Van. Fair, xxix. The General and I were moping together tête-à-tête.
B. sb. (pl. tête-à-têtes.)
1. A private conversation or interview between two persons; also concr. a party of two.
1697. Vanbrugh, Relapse, IV. iii. I … have pretended Letters to write, to give my friends a Tate a Tate.
1738. Gentl. Mag., VIII. 31/1. The Morning Moments, which I take to be the Mollia Tempora, so propitious to Tete a Tetes.
1768. Mme. D’Arblay, Early Diary, 16 Nov. I had the pleasure of a delightful Tête à Tête with him.
1880. Mrs. Forrester, Roy & V., I. 55. Seated together on a low couch made expressly for such a tête-à-tête.
2. The name of some special types of sofa, settee, etc., made of such a shape as to enable two persons to converse more or less face to face.
1854. Webster, Tête-à-tête,… a form of sofa for two persons, so curved that they are brought face to face while sitting on different sides of the sofa.
1877. Knight, Dict. Mech., Tete-a-tete, two chairs with seats attached and facing in opposite directions, the arms and backs forming an S-shape.
1839. Miss C. F. Woolson, Jupiter Lights, xiii. 126. The sofa of this set was of the pattern named tête-à-tête, very hard and slippery.
c. adj. (attrib. use of the sb.) Of or pertaining to a tête-à-tête; consisting of or attended by two persons; tête-à-tête set, a tea-set for two.
1728. Vanbrugh & Cib., Prov. Husb., II. i. A pretty cheerful tête-à-tête dinner.
1779. Johnson, 26 March, in Boswell. You must not indulge your delicacy too much; or you will be a tête-à-tête man all your life.
1847. C. Brontë, J. Eyre, xxiv. I was determined not to spend the whole time in a tête-à-tête conversation.
