Dictionary

try on en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Meanings

1. (transitive) To test the look or fit of (a garment) by wearing it.
   • c. 1601, Gervase Markham, The Dumb Knight, London: John Bache, 1608, Act III, Fore God it is a delicate fine suite, rich stuffe, rare worke, and of the newest fashion; nay if the Senats businesse were neuer so hasty, I will stay to try it on, come, help good wenches helpe, so there, there there.
   • […] Amy tried on the blue ring with a delighted face and a firm resolve to earn it. 1868, Louisa May Alcott, chapter 19, in Little Women:
   • “It would be a pity to throw away a good pair of shoes,” she said. “Try ’em on, boy.” 1929, Thomas Wolfe, Look Homeward, Angel, New York: Scribner, Part Two, Chapter 17, p. 188:
   • Who is this fellow, Corinna? Some journeyman taylor, I suppose, who chuses to try on the gentleman’s cloaths before he carries them home— 1763, Arthur Murphy, The Citizen, London: G. Kearsly, act II, scene 1, page 27:
2. (slang, transitive) To attempt; to undertake.
   • He could have feigned noncomprehension, but with Lanyon one didn’t try anything on. 1953, Mary Renault, chapter 2, in The Charioteer, New York: Pantheon, published 1959, page 26:
   • “He says, and gives it out publicly, “I want to see the man who’ll rob me.” Lord bless you, I have heard him, a hundred times, if I have heard him once, say to regular cracksmen in our front office, “You know where I live; now, no bolt is ever drawn there; why don’t you do a stroke of business with me? Come; can’t I tempt you?” Not a man of them, sir, would be bold enough to try it on, for love or money.” 1860 December – 1861 August, Charles Dickens, chapter XXV, in Great Expectations […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Chapman and Hall, […], published October 1861, →OCLC:

Forms

Coordinates

try out · try out · try

Deriveds

try-on · try it on

Translations (27)

uk примі́рити (to test the look of) · ca emprovar-se (to test the look of) · nl passen (to test the look of) · it misurare (to test the look of) · es probar (to test the look of) · ru приме́рить (to test the look of) · fi kokeilla (to test the look of) · bo ཚོད་ལྟ་བྱེད (to test the look of) · fi koettaa (to test the look of) · el δοκιμάζω (to test the look of) · uk примі́ряти (to test the look of) · nb prøve på (to test the look of) · hu felpróbál (to test the look of) · is máta (to test the look of) · pt provar (to test the look of) · ja 試着する (to test the look of) · fr essayer (to test the look of) · it provare (to test the look of) · uk приміря́ти (to test the look of) · pl przymierzać (to test the look of) · uk примі́рювати (to test the look of) · de anprobieren (to test the look of) · ru примеря́ть (to test the look of) · cmn 試穿 /试穿 (to test the look of) · da prøve på (to test the look of) · fi sovittaa (to test the look of) · pl przymierzyć (to test the look of)