college try

college try

n. Informal

A serious effort to do or achieve something.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

col′lege try′

n.

Informal. a maximum effort (usu. prec. by the old): We may not win, but let's give it the old college try.

[1950–55]

Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.