Assay

As*say"

noun

Old French asai, essai, trial, French essa. See Essay, noun

[Obsolete] Trial; attempt; essay. Chaucer.

I am withal persuaded that it may prove much more easy in the assay than it now seems at distance.
— Milton.
[Obsolete] Examination and determination; test; as, an assay of bread or wine.

This can not be, by no assay of reason.
— Shakespeare
[Obsolete] Trial by danger or by affliction; adventure; risk; hardship; state of being tried.

Through many hard assays which did betide.
— Spenser.
[Obsolete] Tested purity or value.

With gold and pearl of rich assay.
— Spenser.
(Metallurgy) 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.
The alloy or metal to be assayed. Ure.

Assay and essay are radically the same word; but modern usage has appropriated assay chiefly to experiments in metallurgy, and essay to intellectual and bodily efforts. See Essay.

☞ Assay is used adjectively or as the first part of a compound; as, assay balance, assay furnace.

verb transitive [imperfect & participle past Assayed ; participle present & verbal noun Assaying.]

Old French asaier, essaier, French essayer, from essai. See Assay, noun, Essay, verb

[Obsolete or Archaic] To try; to attempt; to apply.

To-night let us assay our plot.
— Shakespeare

Soft words to his fierce passion she assayed.
— Milton.
[Obsolete] To affect.

When the heart is ill assayed.
— Spenser.
[Obsolete] To try tasting, as food or drink.
To subject, as an ore, alloy, or other metallic compound, to chemical or metallurgical examination, in order to determine the amount of a particular metal contained in it, or to ascertain its composition.

verb intransitive

[Archaic. In this sense essay is now commonly used.] To attempt, try, or endeavor.

She thrice assayed to speak.
— Dryden.