triern.

c1330 R. Mannyng Chron. (1810) 250 Þe triours alle þat caste, & put þer saw tille on.

1472 Coventry Leet Bk. 382 These persons folowyng be ordeyned & chosen to be triours within þis Cite to determyn variances betwixt parties with~in þis Cite as touchyng metes & bondes & Gutters & such oþer.

a1586 Sir P. Sidney Arcadia (1593) iii. sig. Ii5 The almightie powers, whom I inuoke as triers of mine innocencie and witnesses of my wel meaning.

1645 Ordinance in Neal Hist. Purit. (1736) III. 293 That certain persons be appointed Triers..to determine the validity of Elections.

1650–60 Free Parl.-Letany iii From Vow-breakers & King~tryers—Libera nos, Domine!

1809 T. Jefferson Writings (1830) IV. 128 The testimony..is the more grateful, as proceeding from eye-witnesses and observers, from triers of the vicinage.

1821 W. Scott Kenilworth I. xi. 283 To get old Gaffer Pinniewinks, the trier of witches,..to comprehend Wayland Smith.

a1854 Ld. Cockburn Memorials (1856) ii. 115 A dexterous and practical trier of ordinary cases.

1885 R. W. Dixon Hist. Church Eng. III. 377 The bishop himself was to be the chief trier.

a1377 Rolls of Parl. II. 400/1 Sur quele chose furent esleuz Triours par la Court, qe disoient qe le Viscounte fust eidaunt et bien voillant a la partie du dit Evesqe.]

1511 in W. H. Turner Select. Rec. Oxf. (1880) 4 He commawnded the ij tryarse in the King's name to tell Hullys parte owt of the dore [of the gildhall].

?1577 F. T. Debate Pride & Lowlines sig. Biii^v Ye shall haue triers two or three, That shall iudge of their [sc. jurymen's] indifferencie.

1665 G. Duncombe Tryals per Pais ix. 128 When any challenge is made to the Polls, two tryors shall be appointed by the Court, and if they try one indifferent, and he be sworn, then he and the two tryors shall try another.

1768 W. Blackstone Comm. Laws Eng. III. xxiii. 363.

1863 H. Cox Inst. Eng. Govt. ii. iii. 354 Two triers appointed by the Court.

1539 Act 31 Hen. VIII c. 10. §9 Peres that shalbe called hereafter to be triours of suche treasons.

1596 W. Warner Albions Eng. (rev. ed.) x. lvi. 248 These Noble Tryers, iustly then examining the Cause.

1676 C. Hatton in E. M. Thompson Corr. Family of Hatton (1878) I. (Camden) 134 Ther were 31 Lords tryers present.

1794 E. Burke Rep. Lords' Jrnls. in Wks. (1842) II. 607 A course of precedents, in a legal court, composed of a peer for judge, and peers for triers.

1831 J. Mackintosh Hist. Eng. II. vii. 198 Queen Anne and her brother Rochford were tried..before the duke of Norfolk,..assisted by twenty-six ‘lords triers’, who in some degree performed the functions of jurors in this tribunal.

1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. vi. 39 The high steward was sole judge of the law; and the lords triers formed merely a jury to pronounce on the question of fact. Jeffreys was appointed high steward.

1855 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. IV. xviii. 158 The Lords insisted that every peer should be entitled to be a Trier. The Commons were with difficulty induced to consent that the number of Triers should never be less than thirty six.

1655 in C. H. Firth Clarke Papers (1899) III. 53 His Highnesse..left Mr. Cordwell, the minister, to bee concluded by the Tryers of London.

1657 J. Goodwin Βασανισται To Rdr. 2 Two Apocryphall Orders of Commissioned Officers..known by the names of Triers, and Ejectors.

1664 S. Butler Hudibras: Second Pt. ii. ii. 125 And do not they as Tryers sit, To judg what Officers are fit?

a1691 R. Baxter Reliquæ Baxterianæ (1696) 72.

1691 A. Wood Athenæ Oxonienses I. 861 Afterwards he enjoyed two livings successively without examination by the Tryers.

1808 W. Wilson Hist. Dissenting Churches I. 471 The Commissioners were in all thirty-eight..and were commonly known by the name of Tryers.

1862 R. Vaughan Eng. Nonconformity 186 The number of ministers ejected by the Triers was considerable.

1607 G. Markham Cavelarice iii. 67 These Tryers are certaine indifferent Gentlemen, chosen by both the parties that make the match, who are to see that there be faire play, and that the Articles be fully performed on both parties.

1747 J. Relph Misc. Poems 16 At spworts, if I was trier.

1826 Sporting Mag. 18 321 A trier, or stickler as he is commonly called, is an umpire.

1888 F. T. Elworthy W. Somerset Word-bk. Trier, the umpire at a wrestling, cudgel-playing, or any other match.

a1483 Liber Niger Edw. IV in Coll. Ordinances Royal Househ. (1790) 75 This seyde sergeaunt, or the yoman tryoure, or the groome tryoure,..dayly to be redye in the hall.

1538 T. Elyot Dict. Spectatores, beholders, triers of money.

a1542 T. Wyatt Coll. Poems (1969) cclx. 6 Of good and bad the triers are these twaine.

1552 R. Huloet Abcedarium Anglico Latinum Tryers, comprobatores.

1610 G. Carleton Iurisdict. Pref. When it was examined by vnskilfull and deceitfull triars,..taking vpon them to be triars of truth.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Coriolanus (1623) iv. i. 4 You were vs'd To say, Extreamities was the trier of spirits. View more context for this quotation

1712 E. Budgell Spectator No. 307. ¶7 There should be certain Triers or Examiners..to inspect the Genius of every particular Boy.

1760 Cautions & Advices to Officers of Army 162 There was formerly in the Army, particularly in Queen Ann's Time, a Sett of Officers in most Corps, who were called Provers, or Tryers; these upon a young Officer's joining the Regiment,..without any Cause picked a Quarrel with him: when, if the young Man acquitted himself with Honour, and escaped with Life, he passed the Rest of his Time quietly enough.

1796 Capt. Bowen in Naval Chron. 23 368 I ordered one gun to be fired, as a trier of her intention.

1818 W. Cobbett Year's Resid. U.S.A. i. ii. 142 They are the best of triers. Whatever they prefer is sure to be the richest thing within their reach.

1872 C. H. Spurgeon Treasury of David III. Ps. lxxiii. 21 God is frequently called..the Trier of the hearts and reins.

1523 Ld. Berners tr. J. Froissart Cronycles I. ccccii. 699 They set but lytell by the manassyng of a sonne of a tryer of hony.

a1637 B. Jonson Under-woods lxxxiv. iv. 27 in Wks. (1640) III Disdaining any tryer; 'Tis got where it can try the fire.

1726 Philos. Trans. 1725 (Royal Soc.) 33 262 The Triers, that open them [sc. whales] when dead,..never observed any Grass, Fish, or any other Sort of Food in the right or Whalebone Whale.

1869 J. C. Atkinson Peacock's Gloss. Dial. Hundred of Lonsdale Trier, a corn-screen.

1891 in Cent. Dict.

1897 Daily News 28 July 11/5 He trusted they would remember that even when the eleven did badly they were always tryers.

1903 Daily Chron. 24 Feb. 3/2 Mr. Bernard Capes may be described, in the language of the cricket-field, as ‘a great try-er’.

1927 C. A. Wilson Empire's Junior Partner 227 There are many opportunities to acquire land on easy terms, very many farmers' trading concerns which are ready to back a ‘trier’.

1942 Tee Emm (Air Ministry) 2 133 One day his Instructor said ‘That chap's a trier’ and sent him to a Squadron.

1955 Times 10 June 4/7 Pritchett has always been a real trier, and his game has looked more mature since his return from the United States.