try
verbnounadjectivetop 1 000 in film dialogue
- //tɹaɪ//
- /[t͡ʃɹaɪ̯]/
- /[tɹ̝̊aɪ̯]/
To attempt; to endeavour. Followed by infinitive.
verb
- 1
To attempt; to endeavour. Followed by infinitive.
I tried to rollerblade, but I couldn’t.
Can you start the car? —I'll try (to).
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.
Skywalker: Alright... I'll give it a try. Yoda: NO! Try not! Do, or do not. There is no "try".
- 2
obsoleteTo divide; to separate. To 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.
- 3
obsoleteTo divide; to separate. To winnow; to sift; to pick out; frequently followed by out.
to try out the wild corn from the good
the wylde corne, beinge in shap and greatnesse lyke to the good, if they be mengled, with great difficultie will be tried out
- 4
obsoleteTo divide; to separate. To extract oil from blubber or fat; to melt down blubber to obtain oil
- 5
obsoleteTo divide; to separate. To extract wax from a honeycomb
- 6
To test, to work out. To make an experiment. Usually followed by a present participle.
I tried mixing more white paint to get a lighter shade.
- 7
To test, to work out. To put to test.
I shall try my skills on this.
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.
“So mousie shall only find tins on the floor now,” thought Miss Mapp. “Mousie shall try his teeth on tins.”
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.
- 8
To test, to work out. To test someone's patience.
You are trying my patience.
Don't try me.
- 9
slangTo test, to work out. To fight or to make an attempt at an attack.
You wouldn't dare and try me!
You fixin' to try something, fool?
- 10
figurativeTo test, to work out. To receive an imminent attack; to take.
Mona: Try this vampire bolt on for size! Cedric: Why don't you try this alien bolt?
- 11
To test, to work out. To taste, sample, etc.
Oh, you need to try the soup of the day!
Calvin: What's this disgusting slimy blob? Dad: Try it. You'll love it.
- 12
To test, to work out. 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
Let the end try the man.
- 13
To test, to work out. To attempt to determine (by experiment or effort).
I'll try whether I can make it across town on foot.
Sir, the doctors and apothecaries are the greatest thieves in the world; they are always trying which can rob their patients the most.
- 14
To test, to work out. To put on trial.
He was tried and executed.
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.
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.
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.
- 15
To experiment, to strive. To have or gain knowledge of by experience.
[…]try the Lybian Heat, or Scythian Cold.
Never more Mean I to trie what rash untri'd I sought, The paine of absence from thy sight.
- 16
To experiment, to strive. To work on something with one's best effort and focus.
Dad, for God's sake, I'm trying my best!
You are trying too hard.
- 17
obsoleteTo experiment, to strive. To do; to fare.
How do you try! (i.e., how do you do?)
- 18
To experiment, to strive. To settle; to decide; to determine; specifically, to decide by an appeal to arms.
to try rival claims by a duel; to try conclusions
[…]Left I the Court, to ſee this Quarrell try’de.
- 19
To experiment, to strive. To attempt to conceive a child.
- 20
To lie to in heavy weather under just sufficient sail to head into the wind.
- 21
To strain; to subject to excessive tests.
The light tries his eyes.
Repeated failures try one's patience.
- 22
slangTo want, to desire.
I am really not trying to hear you talk about my mama like that.
Etymology
From Middle English trien (“to separate out, sift, choose, select, evaluate, try a legal case”), from Anglo-Norman trier, triher, triere (“to divide, separate, choose, select, prove, determine, try a case”), Old French trier (“to choose, pick out or separate from others, sift, cull”), of uncertain origin. Cognate with Occitan triar (“to choose, sort, scrutinise, peel”), Catalan triar (“to pick, choose, decide”). Suggested to be derived from Late Latin *trītāre (“to crush, grind, trample, wear out”), itself derived from Classical Latin trītus (“rubbed, worn down, pulverised”), the past participle of terō, terere (“to rub, wear down, trample”), though this derivation is incompatible with the Occitan form. Additionally, the shift in meaning from "rub, crush, trample" to "pick out, choose, cull" is difficult to explain. One suggestion is that the semantic shift might have originated from a Latin phrase *granum terere ("to tread the corn (in threshing)"; compare Latin trītūra (“rubbing, chafing, friction" also "threshing”)), which has a parallel in the modern French trier le grain (“to sort the grain”). Alternatively, perhaps derived from Vulgar Latin *trīāre, a metathetic alteration of *tīrāre (“to tear off, pull, draw”), whence also Old French tirer (“to draw, pull, pluck, tug, peck at, extract”), Occitan tirar (“to take, draw, retrieve, remove, extract”). Replaced native Middle English cunnen (“to try”) (from Old English cunnian), Middle English fandien (“to try, prove”) (from Old English fandian), and Middle English costnien (“to try, tempt, test”) (from Old English costnian).
noun
- 1
An attempt.
I gave unicycling a try but I couldn’t do it.
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.
When Papillon makes his last impossible try for freedom they embrace with the tendresse of lovers, however manly and platonic.
- 2
An act of tasting or sampling.
I gave sushi a try but I didn’t like it.
- 3
A score in rugby league and rugby union, analogous to a touchdown in American football.
Today I scored my first try.
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.
- 4
obsoleteA screen, or sieve, for grain.
They will not passe thorough the holes of the sieve, ruddle or trie, if they be narrow.
- 5
A field goal or extra point
- 6
A move that almost solves a chess problem, except that Black has a unique defense.
- 7
A block of code that may trigger exceptions the programmer expects to catch, usually demarcated by the keyword try.
adjective
- 1
obsoleteFine, excellent.
But he her ſuppliant hands, thoſe hands of gold, / And eke her feete, thoſe feete of ſiluer trye, […] Chopt off […].
Etymology
From Middle English trye, trie, probably from Old French trié, past participle of Old French trier (“to try”).
Forms
- plural
- tries
- comparative
- more try
- superlative
- most try
- past tense
- tried
- past participle
- tried
- present participle
- trying
- third person singular
- tries
try · To attempt; to endeavour. Followed by infinitive.
trying · Difficult to endure; arduous.tsar · A person with great power; an autocrat.tsk · Used to indicate disapproval, disappointment, or discontent.