assay [ verb a-sey ; noun as -ey, a-sey ] SHOW IPA
/ verb æˈseɪ; noun ˈæs eɪ, æˈseɪ / PHONETIC RESPELLING
verb (used with object) to examine or analyze: to assay a situation; to assay an event.
Metallurgy . to analyze (an ore, alloy, etc.) in order to determine the quantity of gold, silver, or other metal in it.
Pharmacology . to subject (a drug) to an analysis for the determination of its potency or composition.
to judge the quality of; assess; evaluate: to assay someone's efforts.
to try or test; put to trial: to assay one's strength; to assay one's debating abilities.
to attempt; try; essay: to assay a dance step.
SEE MORE SEE LESS verb (used without object) to contain, as shown by analysis, a certain proportion of usually precious metal.
noun Metallurgy . determination of the amount of metal, especially gold or silver, in an ore, alloy, etc.
a substance undergoing analysis or trial.
a detailed report of the findings in assaying a substance.
Archaic . examination; trial; attempt; essay.
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On the farm, the feed for chicks is significantly different from the roosters’; ______ not even comparable.
Origin of assay 1250–1300; Middle English <Middle French; variant of
essay
OTHER WORDS FROM assay as·say·a·ble, adjective as·say·er, noun un·as·sayed, adjective un·as·say·ing, adjective WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH assay assay , essay Words nearby assay assault course ,
assaultive ,
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assbackwards Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2021
Example sentences from the Web for assay We’ve gone andproliferated dozens of different assay s, which in this case is basically more confusing than helpful.
The issue of standardized antiboday assay s is further complicated by the fact that different types of assay s may be needed.
So far, each vaccine candidate has been tested using a different procedure—known as an assay — conducted in different labs.
Many of the same issues that bedevil comparing neutralizing antibody assay s, apply equally to assay s for T-cell responses.
Such antibody assay s in mid-April indicated that close to one-in-eight people who had been tested in New York State had antibodies to the new coronavirus.
Obama did authorize sending kits for a diagnostic Ebola test called the EZ1 Real-Time RT-PCR Assay .
But the next afternoon, and perhaps the next, we would return to the same cruxes, and often assay the same options.
Twenty baskets of it were obtained by the said miners to assay and investigate its nature, and determine what it might be.
On being fused with twenty-three libras of lead, nothing was obtained from the said assay .
Thence were taken fifteen baskets of gravel and dirt, which has the color of coal, in order to assay it.
Cash looked up from studying the last assay report of the Burro Lode, and his look was not pleasant.
Now would I liefer keep within compass according to my smaller conditions than assay to rival the success 194 of my kinsman Knut.
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verb (əˈseɪ ) to subject (a substance, such as silver or gold) to chemical analysis, as in the determination of the amount of impurity
(tr) to attempt (something or to do something)
(tr; may take a clause as object) to test, analyse, or evaluate to assay the significance of early childhood experience
SEE MORE SEE LESS noun (əˈseɪ , ˈæseɪ ) an analysis, esp a determination of the amount of metal in an ore or the amounts of impurities in a precious metal (as modifier ) an assay office a substance undergoing an analysis
a written report on the results of an analysis
a test
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Derived forms of assay assayable , adjective assayer , noun Word Origin for assay C14: from Old Northern French assai; see essay
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
n. Qualitative or quantitative analysis of a substance, especially of an ore or a drug, to determine its components.
A substance to be so analyzed.
The result of such an analysis.
An analysis or examination.
SEE MORE SEE LESS v. To subject a substance to chemical analysis.
To examine a person's capability by trial or experiment; put to a test.
To evaluate a situation; assess.
To attempt; try.
To be shown by analysis to contain a certain proportion of atoms, molecules, compounds, or precious metal.
SEE MORE SEE LESS The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
A quantitative determination of the amount of a given substance in a particular sample. Assays are regularly used to determine the purity of precious metals. They can be performed by wet methods or dry methods. In the wet method, the sample is dissolved in a reagent, like an acid, until the purified metal is separated out. In the dry method, the sample is mixed with a flux (a substance such as borax or silica that helps lower the melting temperature) and then the sample is heated to the point where impurities in the metal fuse with the flux, leaving the purified metal as a residue.
A bioassay.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.