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Tried virtue or integrity; approved moral excellence; honesty; rectitude; uprightness. "Probity of mind." Pope.

fession of a clergyman, lawyer, or physician; the profession of lecturer on chemistry. Hi tried five or six professions in turn. Macaulay.

The quality or state of having been proved or tried; firmness or hardness that resists impression, or does not yield to force; impenetrability of physical bodies.

xi. 40. War seemed asleep for nine long years; at length Both sides resolved to push, we tried our strength. Dryden.

repared for use or enjoyment; immature; unripe; unseasoned; inexperienced; unpracticed; untried; as, raw soldiers; a raw recruit. Approved himself to the raw judgment of the multitude. De Quincey.

A case for trial which can not be tried during the term; a postponed case. [Eng.]

illegal enterprise, as rioters, mutineers, or the like. The ringleaders were apprehended, tried, fined, and imprisoned. Macaulay.

Tried quality; temper; proof. [Obs.] he found a sword of better say. Spenser.

scrape acquaintance, to seek acquaintance otherwise than by an introduction. Farquhar. He tried to scrape acquaintance with her, but failed ignominiously. G. W. Cable.

figuratively. I'm seared with burning steel. Rowe. It was in vain that the amiable divine tried to give salutary pain to that seared conscience. Macaulay. The discipline of war, being a discipline in destruction of life, is a discipline in callousness. Whatever sympathies exist are seared. H. Spencer.…

o a monastery, or subject to the rules of a religious community; as, a secular priest. He tried to enforce a stricter discipline and greater regard for morals, both in the religious orders and the secular clergy. Prescett.

A turning from one thing to another; hence, an expedient tried in difficalty; often, an evasion; a trick; a fraud. "Reduced to pitiable shifts." Macaulay. I 'll find a thousand shifts to get away. Shak. Little souls on little shifts rely. Dryden.

To cause to move smoothly and quickly; to slide; to convey gently or secretly. He tried to slip a powder into her drink. Arbuthnot.

or soft words; to flatter. Good, my lord, soothe him, let him take the fellow. Shak. I've tried the force of every reason on him, Soothed and caressed, been angry, soothed again. Addison.

an increased exertion for a brief space. The long, steady sweep of the so-called "paddle" tried him almost as much as the breathless strain of the spurt. T. Hughes.

; as, sufferings by pain or sorrow; sufferings by want or by wrongs. "Souls in sufferings tried." Keble.

To move to and fro, as a body suspended in the air; to wave; to vibrate; to oscillate. I tried if a pendulum would swing faster, or continue swinging longer, in case of exsuction of the air. Boyle.

try, or as with tapestry. The Trosachs wound, as now, between gigantic walls of rock tapestried with broom and wild roses. Macaulay.

Hence, examination or trial by some decisive standard; test; proof; tried quality. Equity, the true touch of all laws. Carew. Friends of noble touch . Shak.

Any test or criterion by which the qualities of a thing are tried. Hooker. The foregoing doctrine affords us also a touchstone for the trial of spirits. South. Irish touchstone (Min.), basalt, the stone which composes the Giant's Causeway.