late 14c., "an order, request, directive," from Old French assignement "(legal) assignment (of dower, etc.)," from Late Latin assignamentum, noun of action from past-participle stem of Latin assignare/adsignare "to allot, assign, award" (see assign). The meaning "appointment to office" is mid-15c.; that of "a task assigned (to someone), commission" is by 1848.

early 14c., "minor ecclesiastical court officer" (mid-13c. as a surname), from Old French oficial "law officer; bishop's representative" (12c.) and directly from Late Latin officialis "attendant to a magistrate, public official," noun use of officialis (adj.) "of or belonging to duty, service, or office" (see official (adj.)). From mid-14c. as "a domestic retainer in a household;" the meaning "person in charge of some public work or duty, one holding a civil appointment" is recorded from 1550s.

late 14c., substitucion, "appointment of a subordinate or successor," from Old French substitucion, substitution or directly from Late Latin substitutionem (nominative substitutio) "a putting in place of (another)," noun of action from past-participle stem of Latin substituere "put in place of another, place under or next to, present, submit," from sub "under" (see sub-) + statuere "set up" (from PIE root *sta- "to stand, make or be firm," with derivatives meaning "place or thing that is standing").

1590s, "place appointed for assembling of troops," from French rendez-vous, noun use of rendez vous "present yourselves," from the wording of orders, from rendez, second person plural imperative of rendre "to present" (see render (v.)) + vous "you" (from Latin vos, from PIE *wos- "you" (plural)). General sense of "appointed place of meeting" is attested from 1590s; from c. 1600 as "a meeting held by appointment."

late 14c., "appointment to meet at a certain time and place," from Old French tristre "waiting place, appointed station in hunting," probably from a Scandinavian source such as Old Norse treysta "to trust, make firm," from Proto-Germanic *treuwaz "having or characterized by good faith," from PIE *drew-o-, a suffixed form of the root *deru- "be firm, solid, steadfast." The notion would be "place one waits trustingly." As a verb, late 14c. Related: Trysting.

also no show, "someone who fails to keep an appointment or claim a reservation," by 1941, from no + show (v.), in the "show up, appear" sense. Originally airline jargon, in reference to the commercial airlines' no-show list, of "people who make reservations, are in a great hurry and say they will pick up their tickets at the field. Then they fail to call in and cancel their seats and never show up at the field." ["Popular Aviation," December 1934]

early 14c., assignacioun, "appointment by authority," from Old French assignacion (14c., Modern French assignation), from Latin assignationem (nominative assignatio) "an assigning, allotment," noun of action from past-participle stem of assignare/adsignare "to mark out, to allot by sign, assign, award," from ad "to" (see ad-) + signare "make a sign," from signum "identifying mark, sign" (see sign (n.)).

The meaning "action of legally transferring" (a right or property) is from 1570s; that of "a meeting by arrangement, tryst" is from 1650s, especially for a love-affair; assignation-house (1849) was an old euphemism for "brothel."

"person who seeks or is put forward for an office by election or appointment," c. 1600, from Latin candidatus "one aspiring to office," originally "white-robed," past participle of candidare "to make white or bright," from candidus, past participle of candere "to shine" (from PIE root *kand- "to shine").

White was the usual color of the Roman toga, but office-seekers in ancient Rome wore a gleaming white toga (toga candida), probably whitened with fine powdered chalk, presumably to indicate the purity of their intentions in seeking a role in civic affairs.

1811, "courageous," originally of fist fights, denoting a manful contest without fake falls, from the verbal phrase (early 12c. in sense "rise to one's feet"), from stand (v.) + up (adv.). To stand up "hold oneself against an opponent" is from c. 1600; as stand up to in the same sense from 1620s. To stand up for "defend the cause of" is from c. 1600. To stand (someone) up "fail to keep an appointment" is attested from 1902. Stand-up comic first attested 1966. Catch-phrase will the real _______ please stand up? is from the popular CBS game show "To Tell the Truth," which debuted in 1956.

late 14c., creacioun, "action of creating or causing to exist," also "a created thing, that which is created," from Old French creacion "creation, a coming into being" (14c., Modern French création), from Latin creationem (nominative creatio) "a creating, a producing," in classical use "an electing, appointment, choice," noun of action from past-participle stem of creare "to make, bring forth, produce, beget," from PIE root *ker- (2) "to grow."

Meaning "that which God has created, the universe, the world and all in it" is from 1610s. The native word in the Biblical sense was Old English frum-sceaft. Of fashion costumes, desserts, etc., "that which has been produced by human art or skill," by 1870s, from French.