trying on

Verb

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

1. (transitive) To test the look or fit of (a garment) by wearing it.
   • 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.c. 1601, Gervase Markham, The Dumb Knight, London: John Bache, 1608, Act III
2. (slang, transitive) To attempt; to undertake.
   • “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...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