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Try   /traɪ/   Listen
verb
Try  v. t.  (past & past part. tried; pres. part. trying)  
1.
To divide or separate, as one sort from another; to winnow; to sift; to pick out; frequently followed by out; as, to try out the wild corn from the good. (Obs.)
2.
To purify or refine, as metals; to melt out, and procure in a pure state, as oil, tallow, lard, etc. "The words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times." "For thou, O God, hast proved us: thou hast tried us, as silver is tried."
3.
To prove by experiment; to apply a test to, for the purpose of determining the quality; to examine; to prove; to test; as, to try weights or measures by a standard; to try a man's opinions. "Let the end try the man."
4.
To subject to severe trial; to put to the test; to cause suffering or trouble to. "Thus far to try thee, Adam, I was pleased." "These are the times that try men's souls."
5.
To experiment with; to test by use; as, to try a remedy for disease; to try a horse. "Come, try upon yourselves what you have seen me." "To ease her cares the force of sleep she tries."
6.
To strain; to subject to excessive tests; as, the light tries his eyes; repeated disappointments try one's patience.
7.
(Law) To examine or investigate judicially; to examine by witnesses or other judicial evidence and the principles of law; as, to try a cause, or a criminal.
8.
To settle; to decide; to determine; specifically, to decide by an appeal to arms; as, to try rival claims by a duel; to try conclusions. "Left I the court, to see this quarrel tried."
9.
To experience; to have or gain knowledge of by experience. "Or try the Libyan heat or Scythian cold."
10.
To essay; to attempt; to endeavor. "Let us try... to found a path."
To try on.
(a)
To put on, as a garment, to ascertain whether it fits the person.
(b)
To attempt; to undertake. (Slang)
Synonyms: To attempt; endeavor; strive; aim; examine. Try, Attempt. To try is the generic, to attempt is the specific, term. When we try, we are usually uncertain as to success; when we attempt, we have always some definite object in view which we seek to accomplish. We may be indifferent as to the result of a trial, but we rarely attempt anything without a desire to succeed. "He first deceased: she for a little tried To live without him; liked it not, and died." "Alack, I am afraid they have a waked, And 't is not done. The attempt, and not the deed, Confounds us."



Try  v. i.  
1.
To exert strength; to endeavor; to make an effort or an attempt; as, you must try hard if you wish to learn.
2.
To do; to fare; as, how do you try! (Prov. Eng.)



noun
Try  n.  
1.
A screen, or sieve, for grain. (Obs. or Prov. Eng.)
2.
Act of trying; attempt; experiment; trial. "This breaking of his has been but a try for his friends."
3.
In Rugby and Northern Union football, a score (counting three points) made by grounding the ball on or behind the opponent's goal line; so called because it entitles the side making it to a place kick for a goal (counting two points more if successful).



adjective
Try  adj.  Refined; select; excellent; choice. (Obs.) "Sugar that is try."






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Try" Quotes from Famous Books



... thereafter unless the necessities of the service prevent such trial; and then he shall be brought to trial within thirty days after the expiration of said ten days, or the arrest shall cease." The Act reserved the right to try the officer at any time within twelve months after his discharge from arrest, and by a proviso it was made to apply "to all persons now under arrest and waiting trial." The bill had been pending several months, having been originally ...
— Twenty Years of Congress, Vol. 1 (of 2) • James Gillespie Blaine

... you what I want of you!" cried Nappy Martell in sudden wrath. "I'll teach you to play tricks on me! Try to make me believe your suitcase was stolen, will you? And then come to my room and rough-house things, eh? Just wait till I get through with you and you'll wish you'd never ...
— The Rover Boys at Colby Hall - or The Struggles of the Young Cadets • Arthur M. Winfield

... nothing of the sort. I would sooner throw aside my last claim to self-respect, and write my autobiography. It would at least be safer. But there were events which happened around us, there was an atmosphere in which we lived, so different from those of our lives at home that one felt compelled to try to picture them before they merged into the shadowy memories of the past. And this is all that I have attempted. To all who worked with me through those months I owe a deep debt of gratitude. That they would do everything ...
— A Surgeon in Belgium • Henry Sessions Souttar

... I can't explain everything in the world to you while you are so little; you really must wait until you're more grown up. The Shakers don't shake and the Quakers don't quake, and when you're older, I'll try to make you understand why they were called so and ...
— Homespun Tales • Kate Douglas Wiggin

... weight and density of sand. Do all this, and you may get a vague inkling of what that wind was like. Perhaps sand is not the right comparison. Consider it mud, invisible, impalpable, but heavy as mud. Nay, it goes beyond that. Consider every molecule of air to be a mud-bank in itself. Then try to imagine the multitudinous impact of mud-banks—no, it is beyond me. Language may be adequate to express the ordinary conditions of life, but it cannot possibly express any of the conditions of so enormous a blast of wind. It would have been better ...
— Stories from Everybody's Magazine • 1910 issues of Everybody's Magazine


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