try on

See also: try-on

English

A girl trying on a lion costume before a mirror

Pronunciation

Audio (AU) (file)

Verb

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

(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.
- 1763, Arthur Murphy, The Citizen, London: G. Kearsly, Act II, Scene 1, p. 27,
  Who is this fellow, Corinna? Some journeyman taylor, I suppose, who chuses to try on the gentleman’s cloaths before he carries them home—
- 1868, Louisa May Alcott, Little Women, Chapter 19,
  […] Amy tried on the blue ring with a delighted face and a firm resolve to earn it.
- 1929, Thomas Wolfe, Look Homeward, Angel, New York: Scribner, Part Two, Chapter 17, p. 188,
  “It would be a pity to throw away a good pair of shoes,” she said. “Try ’em on, boy.”
(transitive, slang) To attempt; to undertake.
- 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 3359935:
  “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.”
- 1953, Mary Renault, The Charioteer, New York: Pantheon, 1959, Chapter 2, p. 26,
  He could have feigned noncomprehension, but with Lanyon one didn’t try anything on.

Translations

to test the look of

Catalan: emprovar-se
Chinese:
Mandarin: 試穿／试穿 (zh) (shìchuān)
Danish: prøve på
Dutch: passen (nl)
Finnish: sovittaa (fi), koettaa (fi), kokeilla (fi)
French: essayer (fr)
German: anprobieren (de)
Hungarian: felpróbál (hu)
Icelandic: máta
Italian: provare (it), misurare (it)
Japanese: 試着する (ja) (しちゃくする, shichaku suru)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: prøve på
Polish: przymierzać (pl) impf, przymierzyć pf
Portuguese: provar (pt)
Russian: примеря́ть (ru) impf (primerjátʹ), приме́рить (ru) pf (priméritʹ)
Spanish: probar (es)
Ukrainian: приміря́ти impf (prymirjáty), примі́ряти pf (prymírjaty), примі́рювати impf (prymírjuvaty) (rare), примі́рити pf (prymíryty) (rare)

Anagrams

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