Many high school students have begun 'applying for college'. [=asking to be accepted as students at colleges or universities by filling out and sending applications]
He was able to stop the bleeding by 'applying' pressure to the cut. [=by pressing on/against the cut]
We can handle these problems effectively if we 'apply' the lessons learned from past experiences.
(..) Tonight. Not even a reasonable promise of a job. One intern was hired at the end of the program from a pool of . ...you couldn't even apply the six months' training... The only resource I would have for six months... ...would be my six scanners, which I could still try to sell. (..)2006 The Pursuit of Happyness