try

present singular third person tries · participle present trying · participle past tried · past tried · first person past singular tried · archaic present second person singular triest · past second person singular tried · archaic past second person singular triedst · present singular third person tries · archaic present singular third person trieth · past singular third person tried · past plural tried · past subjunctive tried · participle present trying · participle past tried · alternative obsolete trie

1. To attempt; to endeavour. Followed by infinitive.

   Can you start the car? —I'll try (to).

   4 more examples

   I tried to rollerblade, but I couldn’t.

   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.

   1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XLIV, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, page 361

   Skywalker: Alright... I'll give it a try. Yoda: NO! Try not! Do, or do not. There is no "try".

   1980, Leigh Brackett et al., The Empire Strikes Back

   [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.

   2014 June 21, “Magician’s brain”, in The Economist, volume 411, number 8892

   Synonyms: attempt, endeavor, fand, mint, take a run at, take a stab at

2. To divide; to separate.
   1. obsoleteTo separate (precious metal etc.) from the ore by melting; to purify, refine.

      […]euery feend his buſie paines applyde, / To melt the golden metall, ready to be tryde.

      1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, page 281

   2. obsoleteone sort from anotherTo winnow; to sift; to pick out; frequently followed by out.

      to try out the wild corn from the good

      1 more example

      the wylde corne, beinge in shap and greatnesse lyke to the good, if they be mengled, with great difficultie will be tried out

      1531, Thomas Elyot, The Boke Named the Governour […], London: […] Tho[mas] Bertheleti, →OCLC

   3. obsoletewhalingnauticalTo extract oil from blubber or fat; to melt down blubber to obtain oil.

      ‘Yes, they used the works to try the whale they took from me.’

      1961, Tom Mead, Killers of Eden, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 51

   4. obsoleteTo extract wax from a honeycomb
3. To test, to work out.
   1. To make an experiment. Usually followed by a present participle.

      I tried mixing more white paint to get a lighter shade.

   2. To put to test.

      I shall try my skills on this.

      3 more examples

      The Celebrity, by arts unknown, induced Mrs. Judge Short and two other ladies to call at Mohair on a certain 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.

      1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC, page 58

      “So mousie shall only find tins on the floor now,” thought Miss Mapp. “Mousie shall try his teeth on tins.”

      1922, E. F. Benson, Miss Mapp, p. 89

      Plant breeding is always a numbers game.[…]The wild species we use are rich in genetic variation, and individual plants are highly heterozygous and do not breed true. In addition, we are looking for rare alleles, so the more plants we try, the better.

      2013 May-June, David Van Tassel, Lee DeHaan, “Wild Plants to the Rescue”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3

   3. specificallyTo test someone's patience.

      Don't try me.

      1 more example

      You are trying my patience.

   4. slangchiefly African-American VernacularTo fight or to make an attempt at an attack.

      You wouldn't dare and try me!

      1 more example

      You fixin' to try something, fool?

   5. figurativelyTo receive an imminent attack; to take.

      Mona: Try this vampire bolt on for size! Cedric: Why don't you try this alien bolt?

      1999, Mona the Vampire, "The X-Change Student" (season 1, episode 6a)

   6. To taste, sample, etc.

      Oh, you need to try the soup of the day!

      1 more example

      Calvin: What's this disgusting slimy blob? Dad: Try it. You'll love it.

      1986 January 22, Bill Watterson, Calvin & Hobbes (comic)

      Synonyms: sample, taste

   7. To prove by experiment; to apply a test to, for the purpose of determining the quality; to examine; to prove; to test.

      to try weights or measures by a standard;  to try a person's opinions

      1 more example

      Let the end try the man.

      c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]. Epilogue.”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii], page 80, column 2

   8. To attempt to determine (by experiment or effort).

      I'll try whether I can make it across town on foot.

      1 more example

      Sir, the doctors and apothecaries are the greatest thieves in the world; they are always trying which can rob their patients the most.

      1785, James Ridgway, A Dictionary of Literary Conversation

   9. lawTo put on trial.

      He was tried and executed.

      3 more examples

      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.

      1900, Charles W[addell] Chesnutt, chapter I, in The House Behind the Cedars, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Houghton, Mifflin and Company […], →OCLC

      I sit in front of the mirror and try myself. I am no impartial judge, otherwise I would have had myself executed several times over by now.

      1987, Hadi Khorsandi, “It Didn’t Quite Work Out—2”, in Ehssan Javan, transl., The Ayatollah and I

      Sansa pretends to gather everyone in the great hall to try Arya, and at the last moment reveals she’s actually trying Littlefinger for murder and treason, although I think everyone in that room already knew what was going on except him.

      2017 August 27, Brandon Nowalk, “Game Of Thrones slows down for the longest, and best, episode of the season (newbies)”, in The Onion AV Club

      Synonyms: doom, judge, adjudge, adjudicate, arbitrate, deem, doom, hear

4. To experiment, to strive.
   1. To have or gain knowledge of by experience.

      […]try the Lybian Heat, or Scythian Cold.

      1697, Virgil, “The First Pastoral. Or, Tityrus and Melibœus.”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 4, line 88

      1 more example

      Never more Mean I to trie what rash untri'd I sought, The paine of absence from thy sight.

      1667, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC

   2. To work on something with one's best effort and focus.

      You are trying too hard.

      1 more example

      Dad, for God's sake, I'm trying my best!

   3. obsoleteTo do; to fare.

      How do you try! (i.e., how do you do?)

   4. To settle; to decide; to determine; specifically, to decide by an appeal to arms.

      to try rival claims by a duel;  to try conclusions

      1 more example

      […]Left I the Court, to ſee this Quarrell try’de.

      1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii], page 128, column 2

   5. euphemisticTo attempt to conceive a child.
5. nauticalTo lie to in heavy weather under just sufficient sail to head into the wind.
6. To strain; to subject to excessive tests.

   The light tries his eyes.

   1 more example

   Repeated failures try one's patience.

7. slangchiefly African-American VernacularTo want, to desire.

   I am really not trying to hear you talk about my mama like that.

plural tries · alternative obsolete trie

1. An attempt.

   I gave unicycling a try but I couldn’t do it.

   2 more examples

   There was the day also when his favourite right uppercut had connected in most accurate and rhythmical fashion with the protruded chin of Bull Wardell of Whitechapel, whereby Silas put himself in the way of a Lonsdale Belt and a try for the championship.

   1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019

   When Papillon makes his last impossible try for freedom they embrace with the tendresse of lovers, however manly and platonic.

   1974 February 2, Jonathan Cross, “Poor Butterfly”, in Gay Community News, volume 1, number 32, page 4

   Synonyms: bash, go, stab, whirl

2. An act of tasting or sampling.

   I gave sushi a try but I didn’t like it.

   Synonyms: sampling, taste, tasting

3. ball gamesA score in rugby league and rugby union, analogous to a touchdown in American football.

   Today I scored my first try.

   1 more example

   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.

   2011 October 1, Tom Fordyce, “Rugby World Cup 2011: England 16-12 Scotland”, in BBC Sport

   Synonyms: touchdown

4. UKdialectalobsoleteA screen, or sieve, for grain.

   They will not passe thorough the holes of the sieve, ruddle or trie, if they be narrow.

   1603, Plutarch, translated by Philemon Holland, The Philosophie, Commonlie Called, The Morals […], London: […] Arnold Hatfield, →OCLC

5. American footballA field goal or extra point
6. board gamesA move that almost solves a chess problem, except that Black has a unique defense.
7. computingA block of code that may trigger exceptions the programmer expects to catch, usually demarcated by the keyword try.

comparative more try · superlative most try

1. obsoleteFine, excellent.

   But he her ſuppliant hands, thoſe hands of gold, / And eke her feete, thoſe feete of ſiluer trye, […] Chopt off […].

   1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], part II (books IV–VI), London: […] [Richard Field] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC, page 203