serenade

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

• IPA^(key): /ˌsɛɹəˈneɪd/

• Audio (Southern England):

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• Rhymes: -eɪd
• Hyphenation: se‧re‧nade

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.

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:

     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.

• serenade on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• enseared

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serenade f (plural serenades)

1. serenade

• IPA^(key):

serenade f pl

1. plural of serenadă