Word: try Part of Speech: verb 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). Pronunciation: /tɹaɪ/, [t͡ʃɹaɪ̯], [tɹ̝̊aɪ̯], [t̠͡ɹ̠̊˔aɪ̯], [t̠͡ɹ̠̊˔ʷaɪ̯] 1. To attempt; to endeavour. Followed by infinitive. Example: I tried to rollerblade, but I couldn’t. Example: Can you start the car? —I'll try (to). 2. To divide; to separate. Labels: obsolete Example: […]euery feend his buſie paines applyde, / To melt the golden metall, ready to be tryde. 3. To divide; to separate. Labels: obsolete Example: to try out the wild corn from the good Example: the wylde corne, beinge in shap and greatnesse lyke to the good, if they be mengled, with great difficultie will be tried out 4. To divide; to separate. Labels: obsolete 5. To divide; to separate. Labels: obsolete 6. To test, to work out. Example: I tried mixing more white paint to get a lighter shade. 7. To test, to work out. Example: I shall try my skills on this. Example: 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. 8. To test, to work out. Labels: specifically Example: You are trying my patience. Example: Don't try me. 9. To test, to work out. Labels: slang Example: You wouldn't dare and try me! Example: You fixin' to try something, fool? 10. To test, to work out. Labels: figuratively Example: Mona: Try this vampire bolt on for size! Cedric: Why don't you try this alien bolt? 11. To test, to work out. Example: Oh, you need to try the soup of the day! Example: Calvin: What's this disgusting slimy blob? Dad: Try it. You'll love it. 12. To test, to work out. Example: to try weights or measures by a standard; to try a person's opinions Example: Let the end try the man. 13. To test, to work out. Example: I'll try whether I can make it across town on foot. Example: 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. Example: He was tried and executed. Example: 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. 15. To experiment, to strive. Example: […]try the Lybian Heat, or Scythian Cold. Example: Never more Mean I to trie what rash untri'd I sought, The paine of absence from thy sight. 16. To experiment, to strive. Example: Dad, for God's sake, I'm trying my best! Example: You are trying too hard. 17. To experiment, to strive. Labels: obsolete Example: How do you try! (i.e., how do you do?) 18. To experiment, to strive. Example: to try rival claims by a duel; to try conclusions Example: […]Left I the Court, to ſee this Quarrell try’de. 19. To experiment, to strive. Labels: euphemistic 20. To lie to in heavy weather under just sufficient sail to head into the wind. 21. To strain; to subject to excessive tests. Example: The light tries his eyes. Example: Repeated failures try one's patience. 22. To want, to desire. Labels: slang Example: I am really not trying to hear you talk about my mama like that.