Assay

n. [ OF. asai, essai, trial, F. essa. See Essay, n. ] 1. Trial; attempt; essay. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

I am withal persuaded that it may prove much more easy in the assay than it now seems at distance. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Examination and determination; test; as, an assay of bread or wine. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

This can not be, by no assay of reason. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Trial by danger or by affliction; adventure; risk; hardship; state of being tried. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Through many hard assays which did betide. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Tested purity or value. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

With gold and pearl of rich assay. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. The alloy or metal to be assayed. Ure. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Assay is used adjectively or as the first part of a compound; as, assay balance, assay furnace. [ 1913 Webster ]

Assay master, an officer who assays or tests gold or silver coin or bullion. --
Assay ton, a weight of 29, 1662/3 grams. [ 1913 Webster ]

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 ] [ 1913 Webster ]

To-night let us assay our plot. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Soft words to his fierce passion she assayed. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To affect. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

When the heart is ill assayed. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To try tasting, as food or drink. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. That may be assayed. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who assays. Specifically: One who examines metallic ores or compounds, for the purpose of determining the amount of any particular metal in the same, especially of gold or silver. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The act or process of testing, esp. of analyzing or examining metals and ores, to determine the proportion of pure metal. [ 1913 Webster ]

. A small standard weight used in assaying bullion, etc., sometimes equaling 0.5 gram, but varying with the assayer. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]