verb. (euphemistic).—TO APPROACH (q.v.) a woman; to attack the chastity; TO TRY (q.v.). Hence ATTEMPTER, ATTEMPTABLE, and other derivatives.
1593. SHAKESPEARE, The Rape of Lucrece, 491. I see what crosses my ATTEMPT will bring. Ibid. (1603), Measure for Measure, iii. 1. 267. The maid will I frame and make fit for his ATTEMPT. Ibid. (1611), i. 4. 65. This gentleman … vouching his to be … less ATTEMPTABLE than any of the rarest of our ladies in France. Ibid., 122. I durst ATTEMPT … any lady in the world.
1607. E. TOPSELL, Four-footed Beasts, 3. Apes that ATTEMPT women.
1611. GUILLIM, Heraldry, III. vii. (1660), 136. The Judges … who ATTEMPTED Susanna.
1641. MILTON, An Apology for Smectymnuus [Works (1851), 271]. To secure and protect the weaknesse of any ATTEMPTED chastity.
1741. RICHARDSON, Pamela (1824), I. xviii. 29. When one of our sex finds she is ATTEMPTED. Ibid. (1748), Clarissa, III. 273. It would be a miracle if she stood such an ATTEMPTER.
