# try

Pronunciation: say "TRY" /tɹaɪ/

## Verb

1. To make an attempt or effort to do something, or to make an effort in general ('Just try to stay calm'; 'Children who try get praised').
   - Simple: To make an effort to do something.
   - _Just try to stay calm._
   - _She tries to call her mother every Sunday._
2. To use, taste, test, or do something to find out what it is like or whether it works ('Try this cheese'; 'Try standing closer'; 'Try the door').
   - Simple: To use, taste or do something to find out what it is like or if it works.
   - _Try a little of this cheese._
   - _I have never tried oysters._
4. In law, to examine and decide a case in court, or to put someone on trial.
   - Simple: In law, to hear a case in court and decide it, such as whether someone is guilty.
   - _They will try the case in the spring._
   - _Tried in his absence, he was acquitted._
5. To put a strain on someone or something, especially to test a person's patience to the limit.
   - Simple: To put a strain on someone or something, especially to make someone lose patience.
   - _That child tries the patience of a saint._
   - _Kids, stop arguing in the back seat; you're starting to try my patience._
7. Of a couple, to attempt to conceive a child.
   - Simple: To be attempting to have a baby, used about a couple.
   - _We've been trying since the wedding, but there's no baby yet._
   - _Couples who try for years often stop counting._
8. To want or desire, used with another verb. *(slang)*
   - Simple: Used before another verb to mean 'want'.
   - _He's not trying to work weekends._
   - _Look, I'm not trying to hear excuses at seven in the morning._

## Noun

3. An attempt to do something, or an act of trying something out to see what it is like ('It took three tries'; 'Give the soup a try').
   - Simple: An attempt to do something or to find out what something is like.
   - _It took three tries to start the engine on that cold morning._
   - _After a few weeks of lessons, she gave the violin another try._
6. In rugby league and rugby union, a score made by grounding the ball over the opponents' line, analogous to a touchdown.
   - Simple: In rugby, a score made by touching the ball down behind the goal line.
   - _A try is worth five points in union._
   - _Both tries came in the last ten minutes._
9. In American football, the single play after a touchdown in which a team tries to add points, one by a kick or two by a run or pass.
   - Simple: In American football, the play after a touchdown to add one point by kicking or two by running or passing.
   - _The coach skipped the kick and went for two on the try._
   - _After two touchdowns, the kicker shanked both tries, and those two points decided the game._
10. In programming, a block of code that may raise exceptions the programmer expects to catch.
   - Simple: In programming, a block of code whose errors the program is ready to catch.
   - _An exception was raised inside the try, and the handler logged it._
   - _Nested tries make the error path hard to read._

## Verb

11. To have or gain knowledge of something by experience. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: To learn what something is like by going through it.
12. To do or fare; to get on. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To get on or manage, well or badly.
13. To remove impurities from metal or a similar substance by melting it, or to extract it from ore in this way. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To make metal pure by melting it.
14. To winnow or sift, picking one sort out from another, often with 'out'. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To sort good from bad, often with 'out'.
15. To extract oil from blubber or fat, or wax from honeycomb, by heating or melting it. *(dated)*
   - Simple: To heat blubber, fat, or honeycomb to get the oil or wax out.

## Noun

16. A sieve or screen through which grain is sifted. *(obsolete, UK)*
   - Simple: An old word for a sieve or screen used for grain.

## Adjective

17. Fine, excellent, or choice. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: Very fine or of the best quality.

## Other meanings

- (verb) Chiefly in the imperative, to receive or take an imminent attack.
- (noun) In chess problems, a move that almost solves the problem, except that Black has a unique defense.
- (verb) To settle, decide, or determine something, specifically by an appeal to arms.
- (verb) Of a ship, to lie to in heavy weather with little or no sail set, keeping the bow toward the wind.

## Origin

**Meanings 1–16** — From Middle English trien ("to separate out, sift, choose, evaluate, try a legal case"), from Anglo-Norman trier and Old French trier ("to choose, pick out, sift"), of uncertain origin. It has cognates in Occitan triar and Catalan triar. Some suggest it comes from a Late Latin word meaning "to crush or grind," but this is difficult to reconcile with the other forms and the shift in meaning; another suggestion links it to a Vulgar Latin word meaning "to tear off or pull."
**Meaning 17** — From Middle English trye or trie, probably from Old French trié, "picked out," the past participle of trier, "to choose, sift."

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/try (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).