try - What does it mean?
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Definition of 'try'English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) .
Replaced native (etyl) (from (etyl) (m)).
Verb
( en-verb)
To attempt; to endeavour. Followed by infinitive.
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* |chapter=22
|title= The Mirror and the Lamp
|passage=Not unnaturally, “Auntie” took this communication in bad part. Thus outraged, she showed herself to be a bold as well as a furious virago. Next day she found her way to their lodgings and tried to recover her ward by the hair of the head.}}
*{{quote-magazine|date=2014-06-21|volume=411|issue=8892|magazine=(The Economist)
|title= Magician’s brain
|passage=[Isaac Newton] was obsessed with alchemy. He spent hours copying alchemical recipes and trying to replicate them in his laboratory. He believed that the Bible contained numerological codes.}}
(label) To divide; to separate.
# To separate (precious metal etc.) from the ore by melting; to purify, refine.
#* 1590 , (Edmund Spenser), (The Faerie Queene) , II.vii:
- euery feend his busie paines applide, / To melt the golden metall, ready to be tride .
# (label) To winnow; to sift; to pick out; frequently followed by out .
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To test, to work out.
# To make an experiment. Usually followed by a present participle.
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# To put to test.
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#*
|title=( The Celebrity)|chapter=4
|passage=The Celebrity, by arts unknown, induced Mrs. Judge Short and two other ladies to call at Mohair on an afternoon when Mr. Cooke was trying a trotter on the track. The three returned wondering and charmed with Mrs. Cooke; they were sure she had had no hand in the furnishing of that atrocious house.}}
#* 1922 , , Miss Mapp , :
- “So mousie shall only find tins on the floor now,” thought Miss Mapp. “Mousie shall try his teeth on tins.”
#* {{quote-magazine|year=2013|month=May-June|author= David Van Tassel], [http://www.americanscientist.org/authors/detail/lee-dehaan Lee DeHaan
|title= Wild Plants to the Rescue
|volume=101|issue=3|magazine=( American Scientist)
|passage=Plant breeding is always a numbers game.
# To taste, sample, etc.
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# To prove by experiment; to apply a test to, for the purpose of determining the quality; to examine; to prove; to test.
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#* (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
- Let the end try the man.
# To put on trial.
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#* 1900 , , (The House Behind the Cedars) , Chapter I
- The murderer, he recalled, had been tried and sentenced to imprisonment for life, but was pardoned by a merciful governor after serving a year of his sentence.
To experiment, to strive.
# To have or gain knowledge of by experience.
#* (John Dryden) (1631-1700)
- Try the Libyan heat or Scythian cold.
- (Milton)
# To work on something.
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# (label) To do; to fare.
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# To settle; to decide; to determine; specifically, to decide by an appeal to arms.
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#* (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
- Left I the court, to see this quarrel tried .
(label) To lie to in heavy weather under just sufficient sail to head into the wind.
To strain; to subject to excessive tests.
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Usage notes
* (to attempt) This is a catenative verb that takes the to'' infinitive. In the future tense, it can take ''and'' instead of ''to .
*:
* (to make an experiment) This is a catenative verb that takes the gerund (-ing) .
* See
Synonyms
* (to attempt) attempt, mint, take a run at, take a stab at
* sample, taste
Derived terms
* try-hard
* try-miter square
* try-off
* try on
* try-on
* try out
( rel-mid)
* try-out
* try-outs
* try square/try-square
* try your luck
* trying
* try one's hand
( rel-bottom)
Noun
( tries)
An attempt.
- I gave unicycling a try but I couldn’t do it .
An act of tasting or sampling.
- I gave sushi a try but I didn’t like it .
(rugby) A score in rugby, analogous to a touchdown in American football.
- Today I scored my first try .
* {{quote-news
|year=2011
|date=October 1
|author=Tom Fordyce
|title=Rugby World Cup 2011: England 16-12 Scotland
|work=BBC Sport
citation
|page=
|passage=But two penalties and a drop-goal from Jonny Wilkinson, despite a host of other wayward attempts, plus a late try from Chris Ashton were enough to send a misfiring England through.}}
(UK|dialect|obsolete) A screen, or sieve, for grain.
- (Holland)
(American football) a field goal or extra point
Synonyms
* (an attempt) bash, go, stab, whirl
* (an act of tasting or sampling) sampling, taste, tasting
* (a score in rugby) touchdown (American football )
Derived terms
* give a try
* old college try
( rel-mid)
* penalty try
* worth a try
( rel-bottom)
Etymology 2
Probably from (etyl) .
Adjective
( en-adj)
(obsolete) Fine, excellent.
* 1596 , (Edmund Spenser), The Faerie Queene , V.2:
- But he her suppliant hands, those hands of gold, / And eke her feete, those feete of silver trye , […] Chopt off […].
Statistics
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