delivered at the moment of parting as if in flight or retreat; "paused to deliver a parting shot at the door"; "a Parthian volley of expletives from Uncle Billy"- Bret Harte
(law) legal proceedings consisting of the judicial examination of issues by a competent tribunal; "most of these complaints are settled before they go to trial"
(law) the determination of a person's innocence or guilt by due process of law; "he had a fair trial and the jury found him guilty"
trying something to find out about it; "a sample for ten days free trial"; "a trial of progesterone failed to relieve the pain"
an annoying or frustrating or catastrophic event; "his mother-in-law's visits were a great trial for him"; "life is full of tribulations"; "a visitation of the plague"
(sports) a preliminary competition to determine qualifications; "the trials for the semifinals began yesterday"
indiscriminate slaughter; "a bloodbath took place when the leaders of the plot surrendered"; "ten days after the bloodletting Hitler gave the action its name"; "the valley is no stranger to bloodshed and murder"; "a huge prison battue was ordered"
approaching a particular destination; a coming closer; a narrowing of a gap; "the ship's rapid rate of closing gave them little time to avoid a collision"
final or ending; "the closing stages of the election"; "the closing weeks of the year"; "the closing scene of the film"; "closing remarks"
strictly limiting the reference of a modified word or phrase; "the restrictive clause in `Each made a list of the books that had influenced him' limits the books on the list to only those particular ones defined by the clause"