assay
verbEtymology 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.
1
To attempt (something).
- To-night let us assay our plot.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]:
- Soft words to his fierce passion she assayed.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:
2 more examples
- Who seest the stark array And hast not stayed to count But singly wilt assay The many-cannoned mount[…].1936, Alfred Edward Housman, More Poems, IV, The Sage to the Young Man, ll.5-8
- 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.2011 May 28, “All-pro, anti-American”, in The Economist:
2
Archaic To try, attempt (to do something).
- When Saul cam to Jerusalem he assayde to cople hymsilfe with the apostles, and they wer all afrayde of hym and beleved not that he was a disciple.1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Acts:
3
To analyze or estimate the composition or value of (a metal, ore etc.).
4
Obsolete To test the abilities of (someone) in combat; to fight.
- I wold not by my wille that ony of vs were matched with hym Nay said sir Gawayne not so it were shame to vs were he not assayed were he neuer soo good a knyghte1485, Sir Thomas Malory, “xviij”, in Le Morte Darthur, book IV:
- The marquis, in obsession for his wife, Longed to expose her constancy to test. He could not throw the thought away or rest, Having a marvellous passion to assay her; Needless, God knows, to frighten and dismay her, He had assayed her faith enough before And ever found her good; what was the need Of heaping trial on her, more and more?1951, Geoffrey Chaucer, translated by Nevill Coghill, The Canterbury Tales: Translated into Modern English (Penguin Classics), Penguin Books, published 1977, page 351:
5
To affect.
- when the heart is ill assay'd1579, Immeritô [pseudonym; Edmund Spenser], “August. Ægloga Octaua.”, in The Shepheardes Calender: […], London: […] Iohn Wolfe for Iohn Harrison the yonger, […], →OCLC:
6
To try tasting, as food or drink.
- Derived terms
- assayable, assayer, bioassay, bioassayed, immunoassay, radioassay, radioimmunoassay, reassay, unassayed