essay
verbUK, US /ɛˈseɪ/
Etymology From Middle French essayer, essaier, from Old French essaiier, essayer, essaier, assaiier, assayer, assaier, from essay, essai, assay, assai (“attempt; assay; experiment”) as above.
1
Dated To attempt or try.
- Shall we essay a walk on the promenade?
- He retraced his steps to the front gate, which he essayed to open.1900, Charles W. Chesnutt, chapter II, in The House Behind the Cedars:
3 more examples
- The train took the slow to branch spur at the north end at a not much slower speed, then essayed the short sharply curved climb with a terrific roar, smoke rising straight from the chimney to a height of some 60 ft., the long train twisting and curling behind.1950 April, R. A. H. Weight, “They Passed by My Window”, in Railway Magazine, page 260:
- They, at least, had talked about it. And however full of death and darkness their accounts had been, they'd at least essayed a certain personal honesty.1986, Samuel R. Delany, Joseph Beam, “The Possibility of Possibilities”, in Joseph Beam, editor, In The Life: A Black Gay Anthology, page 197:
- There was the counter, there was the bulletin board, above her the dull sound of music being played over headphones. Something jaunty. She liked the beat. Then the sound of a chair being pushed back, and someone humming as they walked away from her, and she darted up to plunge the bayonet into their kidneys from behind. A followup stroke through the back of the neck, and the second soldier was down. She didn't even stop to see if it was a man or a woman, young or old. There were further hurdles to essay before she reached her destination.2023 October 12, HarryBlank, “Fire in the Hole”, in SCP Foundation, archived from the original on 22 May 2024:
2
To move forth, as into battle.
- Derived terms
- unessayed