As*say" (&?;), n. [OF. asai,
essai, trial, F. essa. See Essay,
n.] 1. Trial; attempt; essay.
[Obs.] Chaucer.
I am withal persuaded that it may prove much more easy in
the assay than it now seems at distance.
Milton.
2. Examination and determination; test; as, an
assay of bread or wine. [Obs.]
This can not be, by no assay of reason.
Shak.
3. Trial by danger or by affliction; adventure;
risk; hardship; state of being tried. [Obs.]
Through many hard assays which did betide.
Spenser.
4. Tested purity or value. [Obs.]
With gold and pearl of rich assay.
Spenser.
5. (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.
6. 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.
&fist; Assay is used adjectively or as the first part of a
compound; as, assay balance, assay furnace.
Assay master, an officer who assays or tests gold
or silver coin or bullion. -- Assay ton, a
weight of 29,166⅔ grams.
As*say", v. t. [imp. & p.
p. Assayed (&?;); p. pr. & vb. n.
Assaying.] [OF. asaier, essaier, F. essayer,
fr. essai. See Assay, n., Essay,
v.] 1. To try; to attempt; to
apply. [Obs. or Archaic]
To-night let us assay our plot.
Shak.
Soft words to his fierce passion she assayed.
Milton.
2. To affect. [Obs.]
When the heart is ill assayed.
Spenser.
3. To try tasting, as food or drink.
[Obs.]
4. 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.
As*say", v. i. To attempt, try, or
endeavor. [Archaic. In this sense essay is now commonly
used.]
She thrice assayed to speak.
Dryden.
