Wiktionary

assay

See also: Assay

English

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Etymology

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From Middle English assay (noun) and assayen (verb), from Anglo-Norman assai (noun) and Anglo-Norman assaier (verb), from Old French essai. Doublet of essay.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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assay (plural assays)

  1. Trial, attempt.
  2. Examination and determination; test.
  3. The qualitative or quantitative chemical analysis of something.
  4. Trial by danger or by affliction; adventure; risk; hardship; state of being tried.
  5. Tested purity or value.
  6. The act or process of ascertaining the proportion of a particular metal in an ore or alloy; especially, the determination of the proportion of gold or silver in bullion or coin.
  7. The alloy or metal to be assayed.[1]

Derived terms

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Translations

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Verb

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assay (third-person singular simple present assays, present participle assaying, simple past and past participle assayed)

  1. (transitive) To attempt (something). [from 14th c.]
    • c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene vii]:
      To-night let us assay our plot.
    • 1667, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
      Soft words to his fierce passion she assayed.
    • 1936, Alfred Edward Housman, More Poems, IV, The Sage to the Young Man, ll.5-8:
      Who seest the stark array
      And hast not stayed to count
      But singly wilt assay
      The many-cannoned mount […].
    • 2011 May 28, “All-pro, anti-American”, in The Economist:
      Speaking before a small crowd beneath antique airplanes suspended in the atrium of the State of Iowa Historical Museum, an effortfully cheerful Mr Romney assayed an early version of a stump speech I imagine will become a staple of his campaign for the Republican nomination, once it "officially" begins some time next week in New Hampshire.
  2. (archaic, intransitive) To try, attempt (to do something). [14th–19th c.]
  3. (transitive) To analyze or estimate the composition or value of (a metal, ore etc.). [from 15th c.]
  4. (obsolete, transitive) To test the abilities of (someone) in combat; to fight. [15th–17th c.]
  5. To affect.
  6. To try tasting, as food or drink.

Derived terms

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Translations

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References

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  1. ^ 1839, Andrew Ure, A Dictionary of Arts, Manufactures, and Mines,

Further reading

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Anagrams

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Middle English

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Etymology 1

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Borrowed from Anglo-Norman assai, from Late Latin exagium.

Alternative forms

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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assay (plural assayes)

  1. Examining; investigation, looking into, research:
    1. Trialling, assaying; the ensuring of quality (usually of a substance, but also of a document)
    2. The trial or testing of one's personality or personal qualities.
    3. An attack (as a trial of one's mettle or ability on the battlefield)
    4. The trialling of comestibles or nourishments (mostly in ceremony)
  2. A try or effort towards something.
  3. (rare) Facts in support in assertion; evidence.
  4. (rare) One's personality; the nature of something or someone.
  5. (rare) A deed, action or doing; an endeavour or business.
Derived terms
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Descendants
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  • English: assay, say
  • Scots: assay, say, sey
References
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Etymology 2

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Verb

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assay

  1. Alternative form of assayen
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Note 1