(obs. or arch.); in ordinary use now only as Fr. ǁ triste. Also 5 tryst, tryste. [a. F. triste (10th c. in Godef., Compl.) = Prov. trist, triste, Sp., Pg. triste, It. tristo, ad. L. tristis sad, sorrowful, gloomy.]
1. Feeling or expressing sorrow; sad, sorrowful, melancholy.
c. 1420. Lydg., Thebes, 1956. Whan Tydeus hadde told his tale, Ethiocles, trist and wonder pale, his conceyt first in maner hath refreyned.
1474. Caxton, Chesse, II. v. (1883), 71. Hyt apperteyneth not to a prynce that ony man shold departe sorowfull or tryste fro hym.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, XI. vi. 2. Thyr messingeris, all trist and wobegon, Returnit haymwartis into thar maist neid.
1600. Fairfax, Tasso, XIII. xxix. A bitter sorrow by the hart him bit,… sad, silent, trist, Alone he would all day in darknes sit.
1702. Vanbrugh, False Friend, I. i. I staid in Flanders, very trist for your loss.
1775. Miss Burney, Early Diary (1889), II. 112. The Russian nobleman … had a most triste, foreign countenance.
1820. W. Irving, Life & Lett. (1864), II. 18. The populace have a more triste and grave appearance.
1851. Sir F. Palgrave, Norm. & Eng., II. 410. His hitherto cheerful countenance [was] triste and worn.
b. Characterized by or causing sorrow; sad, doleful, lamentable.
c. 1450. St. Cuthbert (Surtees), 6741. Eftirward fell tyme triste.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, X. v. 142. The comete stern sanguynolent, Wyth hys red cullour trist and violent.
1667. Waterhouse, Fire Lond., 83. Not more trist to other parts of the World and to this Nation in general, then to Me in particular.
1768. Earl Carlisle, in Jesse, Selwyn & Contemp. (1843), II. 285. It is a triste reflection.
1888. ‘P. Cushing,’ Blacksmith of Voe, II. xi. 267. What a trist fate, elenge, sombre, and pitiful!
2. Devoid of interest or liveliness; dull, depressing, dismal, dreary. (Only in form triste, as Fr.)
1756[?]. H. Walpole, Lett., Aug. (1846), III. 239. The great apartment is vast and triste, the whole leanly furnished.
1805. Emily Clark, Banks of Douro, II. 135. To live constantly at my house will be a situation too triste for you.
1835. Court Mag., VI. 188/2. A family going to Bath … without introductions to the élite of the town, will pass a most triste and deplorable winter.
1894. Mrs. H. Ward, Marcella, III. 158. Life was often triste and dull in the great house.
† B. sb.3 Sadness, sorrow, affliction. Obs. rare.
a. 1510. Douglas, K. Hart, II. 380. That is ane sing [= sign] befoir ane hevie trist!
Hence Tristeness, dullness, dreariness. rare.
1866. Mark Lemon, Wait for the End, xxxiv. 442. The mirthfulness of the guests … was in pleasing contrast to the tristeness of the morning gathering.
