assay

[verb a-sey; noun as-ey, a-sey]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR assay ON THESAURUS.COM

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.

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.

Origin of assay

1250–1300; Middle English < Middle French; variant of essay

Related formsas·say·a·ble, adjectiveas·say·er, nounun·as·sayed, adjectiveun·as·say·ing, adjective

Can be confusedassay essay

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for assay

evaluation, inspection, valuation, assessment, trial, investigation, survey, measurement, test, examination, estimation, appraisal, rating, assess, see, measure, check, size, rate, prove

Examples from the Web for assay

Contemporary Examples of assay

But the next afternoon, and perhaps the next, we would return to the same cruxes, and often assay the same options.
Remembering Dmitri Nabokov, the Novelist’s Son and Literary Executor
Brian Boyd
May 10, 2012

Historical Examples of assay

That which would remain in the cupel if one should assay a phantom.
The Devil's Dictionary
Ambrose Bierce
If we liken them to gold, she has made her assay and says the gold is pure.
Jesus the Christ
James Edward Talmage
All the places I had to search for her were the stable and the assay office.
The La Chance Mine Mystery
Susan Carleton Jones
I've seen him like this before—the night he shot our own men in the assay office.
The La Chance Mine Mystery
Susan Carleton Jones
So one of them brought him the "specimen" and left it for assay.
Seven and Nine years Among the Camanches and Apaches
Edwin Eastman

British Dictionary definitions for assay

assay

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 evaluateto assay the significance of early childhood experience

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

archaic an attempt

Derived Formsassayable, adjectiveassayer, 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

Word Origin and History for assay

c.1300, "to try, endeavor, strive; test the quality of," from Anglo-French assaier, from assai (n.), from Old French essai "trial" (see essay).

"trial, test of quality, test of character," mid-14c., from Anglo-French assai (see assay (v.)). Meaning "analysis" is from late 14c.

assay in Medicine

assay

[ăs′ā′, ă-sā′]

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.

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.

assay in Science

assay

[ăs′ā, ə-sā′]

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.