serenade

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Jump to navigation Jump to search
The printable version is no longer supported and may have rendering errors. Please update your browser bookmarks and please use the default browser print function instead.

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French sérénade, from Italian serenata, from the past participle of serenare, from Latin serenare, from serenus (calm), of uncertain origin (see there).

Pronunciation

Noun

serenade (plural serenades)

  1. A love song that is sung directly to one's love interest, especially one performed below the window of a loved one in the evening.
    • 1865, Walt Whitman, “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d”, in Sequel to Drum-Taps: When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d and other poems:
      From me to thee glad serenades, / Dances for thee I propose saluting thee, adornments and feastings for thee, / And the sights of the open landscape and the high-spread sky are fitting, / And life and the fields, and the huge and thoughtful night.
    • 1980, Dire Straits (lyrics and music), “Romeo and Juliet”, in Making Movies:
      A lovestruck Romeo sings the streets a serenade / Laying everybody low with a love song that he made
  2. (music) An instrumental composition in several movements.
    “Eine kleine Nachtmusik” is a well-known serenade written by Mozart.

Translations

Verb

serenade (third-person singular simple present serenades, present participle serenading, simple past and past participle serenaded)

  1. (transitive) To sing or play a serenade for (someone).
    • 2013 August 14, Daniel Taylor, The Guardian[1]:
      The Southampton striker, who also struck a post late on, was being serenaded by the Wembley crowd before the end and should probably brace himself for some Lambert-mania over the coming days but, amid the eulogies, it should not overlook the deficiencies that were evident in another stodgy England performance.

Translations

Further reading

Anagrams

Dutch

Pronunciation

Noun

serenade f (plural serenades)

  1. serenade

Romanian

Pronunciation

Noun

serenade f pl

  1. plural of serenadă