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Glite Dictionary
try square

try square

6.2
A metal tool with a ruler and handle for checking right angles in wood or metal
  • noun
  • /traɪ skwɛr/
  • Specialized
translation icon : escuadra
  • When installing cabinets, make sure to use a try square to verify that the corners are square.
  • Use a try square

Examples

  • To ensure the shelf is level, use a try square to check the right angles.

  • Egypt developed glass, and its pyramid builders used plumb lines, wedges, copper saws, chisels, wooden mallets, and apparently a try square.

    Academic text (1992)

  • A carpenter relies on a try square to accurately mark right angles when building furniture.

Synonyms

square
vstry square
25 5.3

A hand tool with two straight arms joined at a right angle

is the version made from a metal ruler fixed to a thicker handle
carpenter's square
vstry square
4.4

A large flat L-shaped metal tool carpenters use to measure and mark right angles

is smaller and made as a hand ruler set against a thicker handle
set square
vstry square
  • UK
3.9

A tool to draw and check right angles

is mainly for workshop testing and marking of right angles rather than drawing tools

Surface Forms

try square singular
try squares plural

Morphology

try + square

The compound is compositionally built from 'try' (to test) and 'square' (a right‑angle tool), so a learner who knows both words can infer this is a tool used for testing/marking right angles. Although it's a technical carpentry term, the sense follows ordinary English compounding patterns (verb/action + object) and is therefore directly derivable from the constituents.

Etymology

Try square: The noun try square comes from a simple woodworker's tool. The word try meant 'to test' and square meant a right corner, and carpenters would press the L-shaped tool against wood to 'try' or check a true 'right angle', so the name means a tool for testing and marking right angles.