Definition of "trier" [tri•er]

• One that tries; a test or tester. (noun)
• One who keeps attempting something despite failure. (noun)
• Law One who examines and settles a case; a judge or juror. (noun)
• An instrument or a device that sifts, filters, or separates ore or grain, for example, from impurities. (noun)
• An instrument or a device, such as a tube or siphon, for taking samples of wine, for example. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Triage - from the French word trier meaning to sort, separate, or select - works on the battlefield by military doctors prioritising treatments depending on the probable survival of the wounded."
• "At frequent intervals, he thrusts his "trier" -- an instrument shaped somewhat like an elongated spoon -- into the cylinder, and takes out a sample of coffee to compare with his type sample."
• "But he's a trier is our PM, so when the writer Dominic Shelmerdine sent a very undemanding letter asking Cameron what was his "original ambition", information Shelmerdine required for the second edition of a book in which politicians and celebrities confess such things, the great PR man wasn't going to waste an opportunity."