different between assay vs assaying

English

Etymology

From Middle English assay (noun) and assayen (verb), from Anglo-Norman assai (noun) and Anglo-Norman assaier (verb), from Old French essai. Doublet of essay.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?æse?/, /??se?/
• Rhymes: -e?

Noun

assay (plural assays)

1. Trial, attempt.
2. Examination and determination; test.
3. The qualitative or quantitative chemical analysis of something.
4. Trial by danger or by affliction; adventure; risk; hardship; state of being tried.
5. Tested purity or value.
6. 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.
7. The alloy or metal to be assayed.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Ure to this entry?)

Translations

Verb

assay (third-person singular simple present assays, present participle assaying, simple past and past participle assayed)

1. (transitive) To attempt (something). [from 14th c.]
   • 1936, Alfred Edward Housman, More Poems, IV, The Sage to the Young Man, ll.5-8:

   • 2011, ‘All-pro, anti-American’, The Economist, 28 May:

2. (archaic, intransitive) To try, attempt (to do something). [14th-19th c.]
   • 1526, William Tyndale, trans. Bible, Acts IX:

3. (transitive) To analyze or estimate the composition or value of (a metal, ore etc.). [from 15th c.]
4. (obsolete, transitive) To test the abilities of (someone) in combat; to fight. [15th-17th c.]
5. To affect.

6. To try tasting, as food or drink.

Translations

Derived terms

Further reading

• assay on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Asays, Yassa

Middle English

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Anglo-Norman assai, from Late Latin exagium.

Alternative forms

• assai, assaie, asaie, assaye, asay, say, sai

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a?s?i?/, /?as?i?/, /s?i?/
• Rhymes: -?i?

Noun

assay (plural assayes)

1. Examining; investigation, looking into, research:
   1. Trialling, assaying; the ensuring of quality (usually of a substance, but also of a document)
   2. The trial or testing of one's personality or personal qualities.
   3. An attack (as a trial of one's mettle or ability on the battlefield)
   4. The trialling of comestibles or nourishments (mostly in ceremony)
2. A try or effort towards something.
3. (rare) Facts in support in assertion; evidence.
4. (rare) One's personality; the nature of something or someone.
5. (rare) A deed, action or doing; an endeavour or business.

Derived terms

• assaier
• assayen
• assaynge

Descendants

• English: assay, say
• Scots: assay, say, sey

References

• “assai, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-07-17.
• “sai, n.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-07-17.

Etymology 2

Verb

assay

1. Alternative form of assayen

English

Verb

assaying

1. present participle of assay

Noun

assaying (plural assayings)

1. A trial by assay.
   • 1854, Carl Friedrich Plattner, Sheridan Muspratt, The Use of the Blowpipe in the Qualitative and Quantitative Examination of Minerals, Ores, Furnace Products, and Other Metallic Combinations

     To these [compounds] belong native gold, alloys of gold and silver, and the argentiferous gold, or auriferous silver, obtained from the assayings of auriferous minerals and ores.

Anagrams

• gainsays, gaysians