sampler

[sam-pler, sahm-]

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noun

a person who samples.

a piece of cloth embroidered with various stitches, serving to show a beginner's skill in needlework.

a collection of samples, selections, etc.: a sampler of French poetry.

an electronic device that digitally encodes and stores samples of sound.

RELATED WORDS

Origin of sampler

1250–1300; Middle English samplere < Old French essamplere, exemplaire < Latin exemplārium exemplar

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

Examples from the Web for sampler

Historical Examples of sampler

But the room was empty; the lamp was turned down; the sampler was pushed aside.
The Manxman
Hall Caine
I can do that in a way at home over my sampler or my white seam.
Gilian The Dreamer
Neil Munro
I thought of catamounts and bears; and then I thought of my sampler.
A Little Maid of Old Philadelphia
Alice Turner Curtis
She ought to work a sampler and learn the letters to mark her own clothes.
A Little Girl in Old Salem
Amanda Minnie Douglas
The decorative and the useful were evenly balanced in sampler making.
The Development of Embroidery in America
Candace Wheeler

British Dictionary definitions for sampler

sampler

noun

a person who takes samples

a piece of embroidery executed as an example of the embroiderer's skill in using a variety of stitches: often incorporating numbers, letters, and the name and age of the embroiderer in a decorative panel

music a piece of electronic equipment used for sampling

a recording comprising a collection of tracks from other albums, intended to stimulate interest in the featured products

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 sampler

"embroidery specimen by a beginner to show skill," 1520s, from sample (n.); earlier "pattern, model, example to be imitated" (early 14c.). The connecting notion is probably "piece of embroidery serving as a pattern to be copied, or to fix and retain the pattern." As "a collection of samples" from 1912.