Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Endeavor

Endeavor , transitive verb

[Old English endevor; pref. en- + dever, devoir, duty, French devoir: compare French se mettre en devoir de faire quelque chose to try to do a thing, to go about it. See Devoir, Debt.]

To exert physical or intellectual strength for the attainment of; to use efforts to effect; to strive to achieve or reach; to try; to attempt.
It is our duty to endeavor the recovery of these beneficial subjects. — Ld. Chatham
Collocations (1)
To endeavor one's self , to exert one's self strenuously to the fulfillment of a duty. [Obsolete] A just man that endeavoreth himself to leave all wickedness. — Latimer

Endeavor , intransitive verb

To exert one's self; to work for a certain end.
And such were praised who but endeavored well. — Pope
He had... endeavored earnestly to do his duty. — Prescott

Endeavor , noun

[Written also endeavour.]

An exertion of physical or intellectual strength toward the attainment of an object; a systematic or continuous attempt; an effort; a trial.
To employ all my endeavor to obey you. — Sir P. Sidney
Collocations (1)
To do one's endeavor , to do one's duty; to put forth strenuous efforts to attain an object; -- a phrase derived from the Middle English phrase “to do one's dever” (duty). Mr. Prynne proceeded to show he had done endeavor to prepare his answer. — Fuller