attempt

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. v. To try to perform, make, or achieve: attempted to read the novel in one sitting; attempted a difficult dive.
2. v. Archaic To tempt.
3. v. Archaic To attack with the intention of subduing.
4. n. An effort or a try.
5. n. An attack; an assault: an attempt on someone's life.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. To make an effort to effect or do; endeavor to perform; undertake; essay: as, to attempt a bold flight.
2. To venture upon: as, to attempt the sea.—
3. To make trial of; prove; test: as, “well-attempted plate,” Fairfax.
4. To try with afflictions. Jer. Taylor.
5. To endeavor to obtain or attract.
6. To try to win or seduce; tempt; entice.
7. To attack; make an effort against; assail: as, to attempt the enemy's camp; to attempt a person's life.
8. Synonyms Attempt, Essay, Undertake, Endeavor, Strive, Struggle, seek, aim. The italicized words agree in expressing the beginning of a task, physical or intellectual, which is difficult and often impossible. They are arranged in the order of strength. Attempt is to try with some effort. Essay is sometimes to try in order to see if a thing can be done or attained, and sometimes simply to attempt: as, “which the Egyptians assaying to do were drowned,” Heb. xi. 29. Undertake is, literally, to take a task upon one's self, perhaps formally, and hence to go about a task with care and effort. Endeavor is to try with more earnestness, labor, or exertion. Strive is to work hard and earnestly, doing one's best. Struggle is to tax one's powers to the extent of fatigue, pain, or exhaustion. The first three words are more appropriate for a single effort, the other three for continuous or continual efforts.
9. n. A putting forth of effort in the performance or accomplishment of that which is difficult or uncertain; essay, trial, or endeavor; effort.
10. n. An effort to accomplish something by force or violence; an attack or assault: as, an attempt upon one's life.
11. n. Temptation.
12. n. In law, an act done in part execution of a design to commit a crime. Judge May. Mere solicitation or preparation, without a step taken toward the actual commission, is not a criminal attempt. Synonyms Undertaking, effort, endeavor, enterprise, experiment.

Wiktionary

1. v. To try.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. v. To make trial or experiment of; to try; to endeavor to do or perform (some action); to assay
2. v. Obs. or Archaic To try to move, by entreaty, by afflictions, or by temptations; to tempt.
3. v. To try to win, subdue, or overcome.
4. v. To attack; to make an effort or attack upon; to try to take by force.
5. v. obsolete To make an attempt; -- with upon.
6. n. A essay, trial, or endeavor; an undertaking; an attack, or an effort to gain a point; esp. an unsuccessful, as contrasted with a successful, effort.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. make an effort or attempt
2. n. earnest and conscientious activity intended to do or accomplish something
3. n. the act of attacking
4. v. enter upon an activity or enterprise