rendezvous

See also: Rendezvous, rendez-vous, and rendezvous'

English

Alternative forms

• randezvous (archaic)
• rendez-vous

Etymology

Borrowed from French rendez-vous (“appointment”), noun derived from second person plural imperative of se rendre (“to go to”), literally, “[you (imperative)] go to, get yourself to [a place]”.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈɹɒndɪˌvuː/, /ˈɹɒndeɪ̯ˌvuː/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈɹɑndəˌvu/, /ˈɹɑndeɪ̯ˌvu/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

rendezvous (plural rendezvous or (rare) rendezvouses)

1. A meeting or date.

   I have a rendezvous with a friend in three hours.

   • 1845, Dublin University Magazine, volume 25, page 39:

     The hare lends its form to the witch for her twilight flittings and scuddings to the place of some unhallowed rendezvous.

   • 1984, Ric Ocasek, “You Might Think”, in Heartbeat City‎^[1], performed by The Cars:

     You might think it's foolish / This chancy rendezvous / (You might think) You might think I'm crazy / (All I want) All I want is you

2. An agreement to meet at a certain place and time.

   Get the party started at the rendezvous at oh six hours.

3. A place appointed for a meeting, or at which persons customarily meet.
   • 1821 January 8, [Walter Scott], Kenilworth; a Romance. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; and John Ballantyne, […]; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC:

     an inn, the free rendezvous of all travellers

4. (military) The appointed place for troops, or for the ships of a fleet, to assemble; also, a place for enlistment.
   • 1702–1704, Edward [Hyde, 1st] Earl of Clarendon, “(please specify |book=I to XVI)”, in The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England, Begun in the Year 1641. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed at the Theater, published 1707, →OCLC:

     The king appointed his whole army to be drawn together to a rendezvous at Marlborough.

5. (astronautics) A set of orbital maneuvers during which two spacecraft arrive at the same orbit and approach to a very close distance.
6. (obsolete) A retreat or refuge.
   • c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:

     A rendeuous, a home to fly unto

Usage notes

The plural form of rendezvous (/-vu/) is normally rendezvous (/-vuz/ or /-vu/). Rarely, the form rendezvouses is encountered.

Synonyms

• (military): RV (abbreviation)

Descendants

• → Welsh: rondefŵ
• → Welsh: randibŵ

Translations

meeting or date

• Arabic:

  Tunisian Arabic: رانديڥو (randivu)

• Bulgarian: сре́ща (bg) f (sréšta)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 會合／会合 (zh) (huìhé), 約會／约会 (zh) (yuēhuì)

• Czech: rande (cs) n
• Danish: rendezvous (da) n
• Finnish: tapaaminen (fi)
• French: rendez-vous (fr) m
• German: Rendezvous (de) n
• Greek: ραντεβού (el) n (rantevoú)
• Haitian Creole: randevou
• Hungarian: randevú (hu)
• Persian: دیدار (fa) (didâr), ملاقات (fa) (molâqât)
• Polish: randka (pl) f
• Portuguese: encontro (pt) m
• Russian: свида́ние (ru) n (svidánije), встре́ча (ru) f (vstréča), рандеву́ (ru) n (randɛvú)
• Spanish: encuentro (es) m, cita (es) f
• Tagalog: tagpuan
• Turkish: randevu (tr)
• Welsh: rondefŵ m

agreement to meet

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: (meeting; appointment) 約會／约会 (zh) (yuēhuì), (meeting location) 約會地點／约会地点 (yuēhuì dìdiǎn), (meeting time) 約會時間／约会时间 (yuēhuì shíjiān)

• Czech: dostaveníčko n
• Danish: rendezvous (da) n
• Finnish: tapaaminen (fi)
• French: rendez-vous (fr) m
• German: Rendezvous (de) n
• Persian: وعدهٔ دیدار (va'de-ye didâr), قرار ملاقات (qarâr-e molâqât)
• Polish: spotkanie (pl) m
• Portuguese: rendez-vous (pt) m
• Turkish: randevu (tr)
• Welsh: rondefŵ m

a place appointed for a meeting

• Bulgarian: място на среща (mjasto na srešta)
• Finnish: tapaamispaikka
• Maori: taupunipuni
• Spanish: punto de encuentro m
• Thai: จุดนัดพบ

Verb

rendezvous (third-person singular simple present rendezvouses or rendezvous, present participle rendezvousing, simple past and past participle rendezvoused)

1. (intransitive) To meet at an agreed time and place.

   Let's rendezvous at the bordello at 8:00 and go from there.

   • 1760–1765, Tobias Smollett, The History of England‎^[2], volume 2:

     At Boston in New England, they were joined by two regiments of provincials; and about four thousand men, consisting of American planters, Palatines, and Indians, rendezvoused at Albany, in order to march by land into Canada, while the fleet sailed up the river of that name.

   • 2002, Michel Faber, The Crimson Petal and the White, Canongate Books (2010), page 392:

     In the entrance-hall, a surprising number of opera-goers have already rendezvoused.

   • 2024 February 16, Minju Pak, “Ode to a Punk Rock ‘Sex God’”, in The New York Times‎^[3], →ISSN:

     They saw each other four times after that, rendezvousing at New York locations reflecting their own tastes. For him, the Knickerbocker Bar & Grill; for her, the Standard and Ludlow hotels.

Translations

meet at an agreed time and place

• Arabic:

  Tunisian Arabic: رندف (rǝndǝf)

• Bulgarian: срещам се (sreštam se)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 會合／会合 (zh) (huìhé), 見面／见面 (zh) (jiànmiàn)

• Finnish: tavata (fi), kohdata (fi)
• French: se donner rendez-vous, se rencontrer (fr), se rejoindre
• German: sich treffen
• Japanese: 待ち合わせる (ja) (machiawaseru)
• Turkish: randevulaşmak (tr)

See also

• rendez-vous for French definition, spelling, and pronunciation

Czech

Alternative forms

• rendez-vous

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈrandɛvuː]

Noun

rendezvous n (indeclinable)

1. date, appointment (meeting with a lover or potential lover)

   Synonym: rande

Further reading

• “rendezvous”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957

Danish

Etymology

Borrowed from French rendez-vous.

Noun

rendezvous n (singular definite rendezvouset or rendezvous'et, plural indefinite rendezvouser or rendezvous'er)

1. rendezvous

Inflection

Declension of rendezvous

neuter gender	Singular		Plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	rendezvous	rendezvouset rendezvous'et	rendezvouser rendezvous'er	rendezvouserne rendezvous'erne
genitive	rendezvous'	rendezvousets rendezvous'ets	rendezvousers rendezvous'ers	rendezvousernes rendezvous'ernes

Synonyms

• stævnemøde
• date

Indonesian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from French rendez-vous (“appointment”).

Noun

rendezvous

1. rendezvous
   1. a place appointed for a meeting, or at which persons customarily meet.
   2. a meeting.

      Synonym: pertemuan

   3. a date.

      Synonym: kencan

Further reading

• “rendezvous” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.