Chiefly Sc. before 19th c. Also 4–5 triste, 4–9 trist, (6 treste, tryist), 6–9 tryste. [Originally the same word as triste, TRIST sb.1 (in which the i was in ME. long or short). The sense seems to be generalized from that of ‘appointed station in hunting’: cf. TRIST sb.2 and the OF. and med.L. words there mentioned. The sense sometimes corresponds to some extent with that of TRUCE.]
1. A. mutual appointment, agreement, engagement, covenant. Now rare or Obs. exc. as in 2.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, xxvi. (Nycholas), 236. Þai sailyt … Quhare-to þare tryst wes mad[e], And þare þe quhet deliueryt hale.
1570. Satir. Poems Reform., xix. 90. Hudge is ȝour fais … With Ithand trystis contractand vp new bandis To bring ȝow to schame and confusioun.
1635. Jackson, Creed, VIII. xii. § 9. A captaine … being surprised by the subtilty of his enemy, whom hee had trusted too farre upon a tryste of parly.
a. 1670. Spalding, Troub. Chas. I. (1851), II. 205. Johne Forbes of Leslie brak tryst appointit to haue satled the samen.
1715. Pennecuik, Tweeddale, App. 36. Thus clos’d our Trist, all was Miscarried, And Bonnie Maggie’s still Unmarried.
1871. Waddell, Ps. in Scottis, lxxiv. 20. Hae min’ o’ the tryst ye made.
2. spec. An appointment or engagement to meet at a specified time and place. Chiefly in phrases, as to make, † set tryst; to hold, keep tryst; to break, † crack tryst; to bide tryst, to wait at the appointed place for the person with whom the appointment is made. Also fig.
Only Sc. till 19th c.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, VII. 235. The kyng … richt toward the houss is gane Quhar he set trist to mete his men.
c. 1470. Henry, Wallace, VI. 865. In Ruglen kyrk the tryst than haiff thai set.
1500–20. Dunbar, Poems, lxxxiii. 13. Ȝe keipit tryst so winder weill.
1546. St. Papers Hen. VIII., V. 561. Yar is ane trist be twin ye Lord of Loichenwer and Herell of Cassellis on Frydye nest to cum in Glasquhow.
1629. Z. Boyd, Last Battell, 1257. The Salmons … in their season returne to the place where they were spawned:… and for no rubs in the way will they be moued to cracke their tryst.
1818. Scott, Rob Roy, xxi. ‘You walk late, sir,’ said I…. ‘I bide tryste,’ was the reply.
1853. C. Brontë, Villette, xii. To keep tryste with the rising moon.
1878. Susan Phillips, On Seaboard, 214. She stood … keeping her tryst at the stile.
1881. W. R. Smith, Old Test. in Jew. Ch., 232. The place where Jehovah has promised to hold tryst with His people.
3. An appointed meeting or assembly: = RENDEZVOUS 5. In quot. 1681 fig. ‘a [divinely appointed] concurrence of circumstances or events’ (Jam.): cf. TRYST v. 4, 5.
c. 1425. Wyntoun, Cron., IX. xvi. 1670. In Marche a day of trew was set … Schir Dauid Lorde de Lyndissay Was at þat tryst þat ilka day.
1456. Sir G. Haye, Law Arms (S.T.S.), 181. Ane Inglis lord … cummys till a tryst to lordis of Fraunce.
1524. St. Papers Hen. VIII., IV. 279. The saide Erle … hath appointed trestes and metingges with thErle of Angwisshe and his frendes.
c. 1560. A. Scott, Poems (S.T.S.), xxxiv. 75. Ȝe trane þame to ane tryst.
1681. R. Fleming, Fulfilling Script., I. (1726), 148. Acknowledging a divine hand where all did thus meet together in a solemn tryst to accomplish that peoples ruin.
a. 1700[?]. Lord’s Marie, i., in Cromek, Rem. Nithsdale Song (1810), 6. An’ she has put on her net-silk hose, An’ awa to the tryste has gane.
1859. G. Meredith, R. Feverel, xxi. Their tryst in the wood.
† b. An appointed journey. Obs. rare.
1768. Ross, Helenore, I. 65. Gin we reach na’ our tryst’s end gin night.
4. An appointed place of meeting: = RENDEZVOUS 2.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, VII. 230. And syne … richt toward his trist is gane.
c. 1450. Holland, Howlat, 307. Thai … Walis wyslie the wayis,… Quhill thai approche to the Pape … At the forsaid trist quhar the trete tellis.
1844. Mrs. Browning, Brown Rosary, I. v. ‘Now where is Onora?’… ‘At the tryst with her lover.’
5. An appointed time; in quot. 1864, an appointed period or term. rare. ? Obs.
c. 1470. Henry, Wallace, IV. 731. At the set trist he entrit in the toune.
1827. Hone, Every-day Bk., II. 164. The time agreed on … for playing it [i.e., a curling-match] is called the tryst.
1864. Sir F. Palgrave, Norm. & Eng., IV. 620. In the year 1100, the end of Robert’s tryste, when the term would be concluded.
6. An appointed gathering for buying and selling; a market or fair, esp. for cattle. Sc. and north. Eng.
1776. Nimmo, Hist. Stirling., iii. (1817), 62. The two great annual markets for black cattle, called the Trysts of Falkirk.
a. 1800[?]. Thomas the Rhymer, I. xviii., in Scott, Minstr. Scot. Bord. I neither dought to buy nor sell, At fair or tryst where I may be.
1808. Scott, in Lockhart, Life, i. The master and servant set off to purchase a stock of sheep at Whitsun-Tryste, a fair held … near Wooler in Northumberland.
1884. Q. Victoria, More Leaves, 46. We met many droves of cattle on the road, as it was the day for the tryst at Castleton.
7. attrib., as tryst-place, a trysting-place; tryst-stone, ‘a stone anciently erected for marking out a rendezvous’ (Jam.); tryst-word, a password or watchword.
1795. Statist. Acc. Scot., XVI. 512. The tryst-stanes are commonly on high ground. They are placed perpendicularly in rows, not unfrequently in a circular direction.
1851. Mrs. Browning, Casa Guidi Windows, I. 618. Thy favourite stone’s elected right As tryst-place for thy Tuscans.
1896. R. Reid, in N. York Scot. American, Oct. The tryst-word seemed ‘Kirkbride.’
