attend (atend)

[ The diligent pilot... doth not attend the unskilful words of a pa enger. Sir P. Sidney. The crow doth sing as sweetly as the lark When neither is attended . Shak., M. of V., v. 1. Their hunger thus appeased, their care attends The doubtful fortune of their absent friends. Dryden. her character. Goldsmith, The Bee, No. 3. =Syn. 1. Attempt, E ay, Undertake, Endeavor, Strive, Struggle, seek, aim. The italicized words agree in expre ing the beginning of a task, physical or intellectual, which is difficult and often impo ible. They are arranged in the order of strength. Attempt is to try with some effort. E ay is sometimes to try in order to see if a thing can be done or attained, and sometimes simply to attempt: as, "which the Egyptians a aying to do were drowned,' Heb. xi. 29. Undertake is, literally, to take a task upon one's self, perhaps formally, and hence to go about a task with care and effort. Endeavor is to try with more earnestne , labor, or exertion. Strive is to work hard and earnestly, doing one's best. Struggle is to tax one's powers to the extent of fatigue, pain, or exhaustion. The first three words are more appropriate for a single effort, the other three for continuous or continual efforts. None are very violent against it [writing plays in verse] but those who either have not attempted it, or who have succeeded ill in their attempt. Dryden, Ded. of E . on Dram. Poesy. Instinct led him [Tennyson] to construct his machinery before e aying to build. Stedman, Vict. Poets, p. 155. I will... undertake one of Hercules' labours. Shak., Much Ado, ii. 1. In what I did endeavour , it is no vanity to say, I have succeeded. Dryden, Annus Mirabilis. A certain truth po e es us, which we in all ways strive to utter. Emerson, Clubs. Shak., Hamlet, iii. 3. O limed soul, that, struggling to be free, Art more engag'd!