try

I tried to rollerblade, but I couldn’t.

I'll come to dinner soon. I'm trying to beat this level first.

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:

To attempt; to endeavour. Followed by infinitive.

[…]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:

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

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

1531, Thomas Elyot, edited by Ernest Rhys, The Boke Named the Governour […] (Everyman’s Library), London: J[oseph] M[alaby] Dent & Co; New York, N.Y.: E[dward] P[ayson] Dutton & Co, published [1907], →OCLC:

(one sort from another) To winnow; to sift; to pick out; frequently followed by out.

(nautical) To extract oil from blubber or fat; to melt down blubber to obtain oil

(obsolete) To divide; to separate.
To extract wax from a honeycomb

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

To make an experiment. Usually followed by a present participle.

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.

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.”

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:

You are trying my patience.

Don't try me.

(specifically) To test someone's patience.

To test, to work out.
To test someone's patience.

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)

(figuratively, chiefly used in the imperative) To receive an imminent attack; to take.

To test, to work out.
To receive an imminent attack; to take.

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

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

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

To test, to work out.
To taste, sample, etc.

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

Let the end try the man.

c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, 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:

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

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.

1785, James Ridgway, A Dictionary of Literary Conversation:

(with indirect interrogative clause) To attempt to determine (by experiment or effort).

To attempt to determine (by experiment or effort).

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.

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:

To test, to work out.
(law) To put on trial.

[…]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:

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:

To have or gain knowledge of by experience.

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

You are trying too hard.

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

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

To experiment, to strive.
(obsolete) To do; to fare.

To experiment, to strive.
To do; to fare.

to try rival claims by a duel;  to try conclusions

[…]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:

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

(euphemistic, of a couple) To attempt to conceive a child.

To experiment, to strive.
To attempt to conceive a child.

(nautical) To lie to in heavy weather under just sufficient sail to head into the wind.

The light tries his eyes.

Repeated failures try one's patience.

To strain; to subject to excessive tests.

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

(slang, chiefly African-American Vernacular, used with another verb) To want, to desire.

en-verb

try (third-person singular simple present tries, present participle trying, simple past and past participle tried)

tries (present singular third-person)
trying (participle present)
tried (participle past)
tried (past)
try (infinitive)

don't try to teach grandma how to suck eggs

próbaképpen (adverb, used with the verb of the action)

From Middle English trien (“to try a legal case”), from Anglo-Norman trier (“to try a case”), Old French trier (“to choose, pick out or separate from others, sift, cull”), of uncertain origin. It is probably related to Italian tritare (“to grind; to sort; to analyze”) (see also French trier). Alternatively, believed to be a metathetic variation of Old French tirer (“to pull out, snatch”), from Gothic 𐍄𐌹𐍂𐌰𐌽 (tiran, “to tear away, remove”), from Proto-Germanic *teraną (“to tear, tear apart”), from Proto-Indo-European *der- (“to tear, tear apart”), see tear. Related to Occitan triar (“to pick out, choose from among others”), although the Occitan verb could also be a borrowing from French. Alternatively or by confluence, the Old French is from Gallo-Roman Vulgar Latin *triare, of unknown origin.
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).

inh

Middle English trien (“to try a legal case”)

cog

Italian tritare (“to grind; to sort; to analyze”)

Old French tirer (“to pull out, snatch”)

der

Gothic 𐍄𐌹𐍂𐌰𐌽 (tiran, “to tear away, remove”)

Proto-Germanic *teraną (“to tear, tear apart”)

Proto-Indo-European *der- (“to tear, tear apart”)

cog

Middle English fandien (“to try, prove”)

Middle English costnien (“to try, tempt, test”)

[t̠͡ɹ̠̊˔aɪ̯]

[t̠͡ɹ̠̊˔ʷaɪ̯]


try

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.

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:

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

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.

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

(rugby) A score in rugby league and rugby union, analogous to a touchdown in American football.

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:

(UK, dialect, obsolete) A screen, or sieve, for grain.

(American football) A field goal or extra point

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

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

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try

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:

en-adj

try (comparative more try, superlative most try)

more try (comparative)
most try (superlative)

[t̠͡ɹ̠̊˔aɪ̯]

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