endeavour

English

WOTD – 27 February 2011

Pronunciation

(General American) IPA^(key): /ɪnˈdɛv.ɚ/
(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɪnˈdɛv.ə/
Rhymes: -ɛvə(ɹ)
Audio (AU) (file)

Noun

endeavour (plural endeavours)

Britain standard spelling of endeavor.
- 1640, Thomas Hobbes, chapter 28, in The Elements of Law:
  And these three: 1. the law over them that have sovereign power; 2. their duty; 3. their profit: are one and the same thing contained in this sentence, Salus populi suprema lex; by which must be understood, not the mere preservation of their lives, but generally their benefit and good. So that this is the general law for sovereigns: that they procure, to the uttermost of their endeavour, the good of the people.
- 1748, David Hume, in Enquiries concerning the human understanding and concerning the principles of moral (London: Oxford University Press, 1973), § 9
  The like has been the endeavour of critics, logicians, and even politicians […] .
- 1873, J C Maxwell, A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism, volume 2, page 184:
  As we shall find it necessary, in our endeavours to bring electrical phenomena within the province of dynamics, to have our dynamical ideas in a state fit for direct application to physical questions we shall devote this chapter to an exposition of these dynamical ideas from a physical point of view.

Verb

endeavour (third-person singular simple present endeavours, present participle endeavouring, simple past and past participle endeavoured)

Britain standard spelling of endeavor.
- 1709, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Criticism, London: […] W. Lewis […], published 1711, OCLC 15810849:
  And such were Prais'd who but endeavour'd well.
- 1748, David Hume, Enquiries concerning the human understanding and concerning the principles of moral (London: Oxford University Press, 1973), § 2:
  The other species of philosophers consider man in the light of a reasonable rather than an active being, and endeavour to form his understanding more than cultivate his manners.
- November 20, 1777, William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham, Debate in the Lords on the Address of Thanks
  It is our duty […] to endeavour the recovery of these most beneficial subjects.
- 1669 May 18, Sir Isaac Newton, Letter (to Francis Aston):
  If you be affronted, it is better, in a foreign country, to pass it by in silence, and with a jest, though with some dishonour, than to endeavour revenge; for, in the first case, your credit's ne'er the worse when you return into England, or come into other company that have not heard of the quarrel.