endeavour

English

WOTD – 27 February 2011

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪnˈdɛv.ɚ/
• IPA^(key): /ɪnˈdɛv.ə/
• Rhymes: -ɛvə(ɹ)

• Audio (AU):

  (file)

Noun

endeavour (plural endeavours)

1. (British spelling) Standard spelling of endeavor.
   • 1873, J C Maxwell, A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism, volume 2, page 184:

     As we shall find it necessary, in our endeavours to bring electrical phenomena within the province of dynamics, to have our dynamical ideas in a state fit for direct application to physical questions we shall devote this chapter to an exposition of these dynamical ideas from a physical point of view.

2. Enterprise; assiduous or persistent activity.
   • 1748, David Hume, in Enquiries concerning the human understanding and concerning the principles of moral (London: Oxford University Press, 1973), § 9

     The like has been the endeavour of critics, logicians, and even politicians […] .

Verb

endeavour (third-person singular simple present endeavours, present participle endeavouring, simple past and past participle endeavoured)

1. (British spelling) endeavor
2. (obsolete) To exert oneself. [15th-17th c.]
   • (Can we date this quote by Alexander Pope and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     And such were praised who but endeavoured well.

3. (intransitive) To attempt through application of effort (to do something); to try strenuously. [from 16th c.]
   • 1748, David Hume, Enquiries concerning the human understanding and concerning the principles of moral (London: Oxford University Press, 1973), § 2:

     The other species of philosophers consider man in the light of a reasonable rather than an active being, and endeavour to form his understanding more than cultivate his manners.

4. (obsolete, transitive) To attempt (something). [16th-17th c.]
   • (Can we date this quote by Ld. Chatham and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     It is our duty to endeavour the recovery of these beneficial subjects.

   • 1669 May 18, Sir Isaac Newton, Letter (to Francis Aston):

     If you be affronted, it is better, in a foreign country, to pass it by in silence, and with a jest, though with some dishonour, than to endeavour revenge; for, in the first case, your credit's ne'er the worse when you return into England, or come into other company that have not heard of the quarrel.