make trial of

make trial of (third-person singular simple present makes trial of, present participle making trial of, simple past and past participle made trial of)

1. (idiomatic, archaic) To check the quality, reliability, performance or genuineness of (something or someone).

   Synonyms: assay, prove, put to the test, test, try, try out

   • 1587, Raphael Holinshed, et al, Holinshed’s Chronicles‎, volume 2, London: Henry Denham, page 315:

     […] he supposed it better, rather to craue the doubtfull mercie of his lord, than to make triall of the earle of Murreis certeine reuenge.

   • 1675, Robert Boyle, Experimental Notes of the Mechanical Origine or Production of Fixtness, Oxford: R. Davis, Section 2, Experiment 9, p. 66,

     […] I thought among other things of the following Experiment, and made Trial of it.

   • 1791, William Gilpin, Remarks on Forest Scenery‎, London: R. Blamire, Book 1, Section 4, pp. 55-56:

     It [lime] is the wood, which the ingenious Gibbon used, after making trial of several kinds, as the most proper for that curious sculpture, which adorns some of the old houses of our nobility.

   • 1886, Robert Louis Stevenson, chapter 9, in Kidnapped‎, New York: Scribner, page 87:

     […] he stood up in the midst with his face to the door, and drawing his great sword, made trial of the room he had to wield it in.

   • 1954, J. R. R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring, New York: Quality Paperback Book Club, 2001, Book 2, Chapter 10, p. 415,

     Will you not at least let me make trial of my plan?