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try

verb
/tɹaɪ//tɹaɪ/CA

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).

  1. derived from tirer — “to draw, pull, pluck, tug, peck at, extract”
  2. derived from *trīāre✻
  3. derived from *trītō✻ — “to crush, grind, trample, wear out”
  4. derived from trier — “to choose, pick out or separate from others, sift, cull”
  5. derived from trier
  6. inherited from trien — “to separate out, sift, choose, select, evaluate, try a legal case”

Definitions

  1. To attempt

    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.

  2. To divide

    To divide; to separate.

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

  3. To test, to work out.

    • I tried mixing more white paint to get a lighter shade.
  4. ›+ 12 more definitions

    1. To experiment, to strive.

      • […]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.

    2. To lie to in heavy weather under just sufficient sail to head into the wind.

    3. To strain

      To strain; to subject to excessive tests.

      • The light tries his eyes.
      • Repeated failures try one's patience.

    4. To want, to desire.

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

    5. An attempt.

      • I gave unicycling a try but I couldn’t do it.
      • When Papillon makes his last impossible try for freedom they embrace with the tendresse of lovers, however manly and platonic.

    6. An act of tasting or sampling.

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

    7. 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.

    8. A screen, or sieve, for grain.

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

    9. A field goal or extra point

    10. A move that almost solves a chess problem, except that Black has a unique defense.

    11. A block of code that may trigger exceptions the programmer expects to catch, usually…

      A block of code that may trigger exceptions the programmer expects to catch, usually demarcated by the keyword try.

    12. Fine, excellent.

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

The neighborhood

Derived

don't diet, try it, don't knock it till you've tried it, don't try this at home, don't try to teach grandma how to suck eggs, for lack of trying, I'd like to see someone try, I like to see you try, must-try, right to try, try as one may, try as one might, try conclusions, try for size, try-hard, trying, try it on, try it on the dog, try me, try-miter square, tryna, try-off, try on, try-on, try one's hand, try one's luck, try one's wings, try out, try-out, try-outs, try pot, try someone's patience, try square, try-square, try the veal, try titles, trywork, captain's try, college try, give a try, good try · +7 more

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at try. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01try02attempt03afflictions04affliction05agony06contest07debate08fight

A definitional loop anchored at try. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

8 hops · closes at try

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA