serenade

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

  • IPA(key): /ˌsɛɹəˈneɪd/
  • Audio (Southern England):(file)
  • Rhymes: -eɪd
  • Hyphenation: se‧re‧nade

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, “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.

Derived terms

Translations

Further reading

Anagrams

Dutch

Pronunciation

  • Audio:(file)

Noun

serenade f (plural serenades, no diminutive)

  1. serenade

Descendants

  • Indonesian: serenade

Indonesian

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

  • (Standard Indonesian) IPA(key): /serəˈnadə/ [se.rəˈna.də]
  • Rhymes: -adə
  • Syllabification: se‧re‧na‧de

Noun

serenade (plural serenade-serenade)

  1. (music) serenade

Further reading

Romanian

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [sereˈnade]

Noun

serenade f pl

  1. plural of serenadă