try

English Online Dictionary. What means try‎? What does try mean?

Translingual

Symbol

try

1. (international standards) ISO 639-3 language code for Turung.

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: trī, IPA^(key): /tɹaɪ/, [t͡ʃɹaɪ̯], [tɹ̝̊aɪ̯], [t̠͡ɹ̠̊˔aɪ̯], [t̠͡ɹ̠̊˔ʷaɪ̯]
• (Canada) IPA^(key): /tɹaɪ/
  • (dialectal) IPA^(key): /tɹʌɪ/, [tɹəi̯]
• Rhymes: -aɪ

Etymology 1

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).

Alternative forms

• trie (obsolete)

Verb

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

1. To attempt; to endeavour. Followed by infinitive.
2. (obsolete) To divide; to separate.
   1. To separate (precious metal etc.) from the ore by melting; to purify, refine.
   2. (one sort from another) To winnow; to sift; to pick out; frequently followed by out.
   3. (nautical) To extract oil from blubber or fat; to melt down blubber to obtain oil
   4. To extract wax from a honeycomb
3. To test, to work out.
   1. To make an experiment. Usually followed by a present participle.

   2. To put to test.
   3. (specifically) To test someone's patience.

   4. (figuratively, chiefly used in the imperative) To receive an imminent attack; to take.
      • 1999, Mona the Vampire, "The X-Change Student" (season 1, episode 6a):

        Mona: Try this vampire bolt on for size!

        Cedric: Why don't you try this alien bolt?

   5. To taste, sample, etc.

   6. To prove by experiment; to apply a test to, for the purpose of determining the quality; to examine; to prove; to test.
   7. (with indirect interrogative clause) To attempt to determine (by experiment or effort).
   9. (law) To put on trial.
4. To experiment, to strive.
   1. To have or gain knowledge of by experience.
   2. To work on something with one's best effort and focus.

   3. (obsolete) To do; to fare.

   4. To settle; to decide; to determine; specifically, to decide by an appeal to arms.
   5. (euphemistic, of a couple) To attempt to conceive a child.
5. (nautical) To lie to in heavy weather under just sufficient sail to head into the wind.
6. To strain; to subject to excessive tests.

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

Usage notes

• (to attempt): This is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive. Conjugations unmarked for tense can take and instead of to, for which also see Citations:try.

And still requires that the two verbs be in the same mood, as and normally does, but the second verb must still be in the bare form as it is after to. For this reason, and can only be used where both try and the subsequent verb are in the unmarked form. Accordingly, He will try and explain, I try and explain, and the imperative Try and explain occur, but not *He tries and explain/explains, *He tried and explain/explained, or *He is trying and explain/explaining. In the latter contexts, only to will be used: He tried to explain. Because try and is often prescriptively deprecated, it is best avoided in formal writing (aiming for the audience's approval), but descriptively it is a fact that try and is an idiomatic form.

• (to make an experiment): This is a catenative verb that takes the gerund (-ing).
• See Appendix:English catenative verbs
• In older forms of English, when the pronoun thou was in active use, and verbs used -est for distinct second-person singular indicative forms, the verb try had the form triest, and had triedst for its past tense.
• Similarly, when the ending -eth was in active use for third-person singular present indicative forms, the form trieth was used.

Conjugation

Synonyms

• (to attempt): attempt, endeavor, fand, mint, take a run at, take a stab at
• (to strive): strive, put/keep/etc. one's nose to the grindstone, put one's back into, give 110%, break one's back, work hard, apply oneself
• (to taste, sample, etc): sample, taste

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Noun

try (plural tries)

1. An attempt.
2. An act of tasting or sampling.

3. (rugby) A score in rugby league and rugby union, analogous to a touchdown in American football.
4. (UK, dialect, obsolete) A screen, or sieve, for grain.
5. (American football) A field goal or extra point
6. (chess) A move that almost solves a chess problem, except that Black has a unique defense.
7. (programming) A block of code that may trigger exceptions the programmer expects to catch, usually demarcated by the keyword try.

   Coordinate terms: except, catch

Synonyms

• (an attempt): bash, go, stab, whirl
• (an act of tasting or sampling): sampling, taste, tasting
• (a score in rugby): touchdown (American football)
• (the point after touchdown): extra point (American football)

Derived terms

Translations

References

Etymology 2

Probably from Old French trié.

Adjective

try (comparative more try, superlative most try)

1. (obsolete) Fine, excellent.

Anagrams

• Tyr

Cornish

Alternative forms

• (Standard Written Form) trei
• (Standard Written Form) tri

Etymology

From Proto-Brythonic *tri, from Proto-Celtic *trīs, from Proto-Indo-European *tréyes.

Numeral

try

1. (Standard Cornish) three

Related terms

• teyr

See also

• (cardinal number): Previous: dew. Next: peswar

Portuguese

Noun

try m (plural tries)

1. try (a score in rugby)

   Synonym: ensaio

2. (programming) try (block of code that may trigger exceptions)

Welsh

Pronunciation

• (North Wales) IPA^(key): /trɨː/
• (South Wales) IPA^(key): /triː/

Verb

try

1. third-person singular present indicative/future of troi

Mutation