Experiment

n. [Lat. experimentum, from experiri, as in experience, q. v.; O. Fr. expériment, Pr. experiment, esperimen, Sp. experimento, It. esperimento, sperimento.]

1Sense 1. A trial deliberately instituted; an act or operation undertaken in order to discover something unknown, or in order to test, establish, or illustrate some allied or known truth; practical test; proof.

A political experiment can not be made in a laboratory, nor determined in a few hours. J. Adams.

2Sense 2. Instruction gained by experience; experience. [Obs. and rare.]

This was a useful experiment for our future conduct. Defoe.

[imp. & p. p. EXPERIMENTED; p. pr. & vb. n. EXPERIMENTING.] To make an experiment; to operate on a body in such a manner as to discover some unknown fact, or to establish or illustrate a known one; to test by trial.

To try; to know, perceive, or prove, by trial or experience. [Obs.] Sir T. Herbert.