Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The act of assigning.
  • noun Something assigned, especially an allotment.
  • noun An appointment to meet in secret, especially between lovers. synonym: engagement.
  • noun The meeting made by such an appointment.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The act of assigning or allotting; the act of fixing or specifying.
  • noun An appointment of time and place for meeting: used chiefly of love-meetings, and now generally in a bad sense.
  • noun The legal transfer of a right or title, or the deed by which this is made; an assignment.
  • noun Paper currency; a bill; an assignat.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The act of assigning or allotting; apportionment.
  • noun An appointment of time and place for meeting or interview; -- used chiefly of love interviews, and now commonly in a bad sense.
  • noun A making over by transfer of title; assignment.
  • noun a house in which appointments for sexual intercourse are fulfilled.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun An appointment for a meeting, generally of a romantic or sexual nature.
  • noun The act of assigning or allotting; apportionment.
  • noun A making over by transfer of title; assignment.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a secret rendezvous (especially between lovers)
  • noun the act of distributing by allotting or apportioning; distribution according to a plan

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Old French assignacion

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Examples

  • ALL her arguments are to the superdels to wait on endorsing Obama because something might happen ... including an assignation, which is, after all, something all of us non-racists worry some the racists might try.

    Obama Camp: We Accept Hillary's Apology; Let's Move On 2009

  • I have seen many soldiers troubled with the unruliness of their bellies; whereas mine and I never fail of our punctual assignation, which is at leaping out of bed, if some indispensable business or sickness does not molest us.

    The Essays of Montaigne — Complete Michel de Montaigne 1562

  • I have seen many soldiers troubled with the unruliness of their bellies; whereas mine and I never fail of our punctual assignation, which is at leaping out of bed, if some indispensable business or sickness does not molest us.

    The Essays of Montaigne — Volume 19 Michel de Montaigne 1562

  • My fate is sealed, since for purposes of their own, of which probably we know nothing, these people intend to take me with them to their country, as indeed they are justified in doing, since I have been fool enough to keep a kind of assignation with them here.

    The Ivory Child Henry Rider Haggard 1890

  • Fortunately for the magazine’s budget, the operative found a source who alleged he could offer advance warning if Craig was going to have some kind of assignation, eliminating the need for long, high-billing nights sitting in a van and drinking cold cups of bad coffee.

    The Muckraker's Progress Handy, Bruce 2007

  • 'assignation' epidemic MAY be correct considering Kennedy's reputation.

    Columnist: Keith Groller 2010

  • "assignation" between Gove and Sam Taylor-Wood, who, according to private polling, 70 per cent of the electorate think is married to Dave, but neither one bit and I was left not only footing the bill, but in possession of sufficient information about John Lennon to last many lifetimes.

    New Statesman 2009

  • “I beg your pardon, but I already have an assignation with Lord Stoneville.”

    How to Woo a Reluctant Lady Deborah Gonzales 2011

  • I wanted to say I had thought he was coming back here to see me after he had come to dinner with his family that night to pursue me and not to have a dirty little assignation with Belinda in our boathouse.

    Olivia V.C.Andrews 2011

  • Instead of that wasteful, wild assignation that amounted to nothing, we would have begun an all consuming love affair that would have lit a fire so strong in both our hearts, nothing could quench it and calm our passions but the promise of a life together.

    Olivia V.C.Andrews 2011

Comments

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  • Has anyone ever seen this word used to mean anything other than tryst?

    December 12, 2006

  • Chris Matthews, on the recent Elliot Spitzer prostitution scandal, "How do these checks get written? I mean, we're talking about $5,000 for an assignation here".

    Hilarious.

    March 12, 2008

  • After the call, he went out and walked into town, block after gingerbread block, under the amber globe of streetlights, as if on his way to some obscure assignation.

    --Richard Powers, 2007, The Echo Maker, p. 306

    November 7, 2008