serenade
/sɛrəˈneɪd
/noun
1A piece of music sung or played in the open air, typically by a man at night under the window of his beloved.He is on his way to your place, right now: expect strumming and moonlit serenades outside bedroom windows....
- It makes me melancholy sometimes to think of such things, and my friends try to cheer me up with impromptu concerts and serenades at my window.
- Maybe sing me a serenade and beg for my forgiveness again.
1.1 another term for serenata.The Serenade for Strings contains also a delectable waltz....
- In the 18th century a serenade was a piece of instrumental music of up to ten movements, scored for a small ensemble, usually with a predominance of wind instruments.
- We have already had excellent accounts of Beethoven and Mozart symphonies and serenades and now it is the turn of some exquisite Haydn and Schubert symphonies.
verb [with object]
Entertain (someone) with a serenade: a strolling guitarist serenades the diners...
- No longer would courtly ladies be gently serenaded by love-struck balladeers - The Taming Of The Shrew threw out any notion of wooing and replaced it with a more martial one.
- Traveling minstrels serenaded their clients with bawdy or heroic tales set to music.
- I couldn't have felt more ecstatic if the heavens had opened up and serenaded me with a chorus of angelic voices.
Derivatives
serenader
- The men of the choir are the serenaders and the police officers; more time should have been devoted to blending their sound.
- You can walk along manicured lawns with free roaming peacocks, experience the luxury of a gourmet meal complete with table-side serenaders, or find a private little jazz salon with an intimate dance floor seemingly made for two.
- A birthday cake plus suitable serenaders were supplied in honour of the birthday of Peter, who was overwhelmed by the whole affair.
Origin
Mid 17th century: from French sérénade, from Italian serenata, from sereno 'serene'.
A serenade conjures up an image of a young man singing or playing to his beloved under her window or balcony at night. The word's origins imply none of these things, requiring only that the performance be ‘serene’. It goes back through French and Italian to Latin serenus ‘calm, clear, fair’. The idea of serenading by night may derive from association with sera, the Italian word for ‘night’. Serenus is also the source of serene and serenity [both LME].