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.]
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 29.166�xa6; grams.
© Webster 1913.
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.
© Webster 1913.
As*say", v. i.
To attempt, try, or endeavor.
[Archaic. In this sense
essay is now commonly used.]
She thrice assayed to speak.
Dryden.
© Webster 1913.