different between assay vs gauge

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

Alternative forms

• gage

Etymology

From Middle English gauge, gaugen, from Anglo-Norman, Old Northern French gauger (compare Modern French jauger from Old French jaugier), from gauge (“gauging rod”), from Frankish *galga (“measuring rod, pole”), from Proto-Germanic *galgô (“pole, stake, cross”), from Proto-Indo-European *??Alg?-, *??Alg- (“perch, long switch”). Cognate with Old High German galgo, Old Frisian galga, Old English ?ealga (“cross-beam, gallows”), Old Norse galgi (“cross-beam, gallows”), Old Norse gelgja (“pole, perch”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: g?j, IPA^(key): /??e?d?/
• Rhymes: -e?d?
• Homophone: gage

Noun

gauge (countable and uncountable, plural gauges)

1. A measure; a standard of measure; an instrument to determine dimensions, distance, or capacity; a standard
   • 1780, Edmund Burke, speech at The Guildhall, in Bristol

     the gauge and dimensions of misery, depression, and contempt
2. An act of measuring.
3. An estimate.
4. Any instrument for ascertaining or regulating the level, state, dimensions or forms of things
5. A thickness of sheet metal or wire designated by any of several numbering schemes.
6. (rail transport) The distance between the rails of a railway.
7. (mathematics, mathematical analysis) A semi-norm; a function that assigns a non-negative size to all vectors in a vector space.
8. (knitting) The number of stitches per inch, centimetre, or other unit of distance.
9. (nautical) Relative positions of two or more vessels with reference to the wind.

   A vessel has the weather gauge of another when on the windward side of it, and the lee gauge when on the lee side of it.

10. (nautical) The depth to which a vessel sinks in the water.

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

11. (plastering) The quantity of plaster of Paris used with common plaster to make it set more quickly.
12. That part of a shingle, slate, or tile, which is exposed to the weather, when laid; also, one course of such shingles, slates, or tiles.
13. (firearms) A unit of measurement which describes how many spheres of bore diameter of a shotgun can be had from one pound of lead; 12 gauge is roughly equivalent to .75 caliber.
14. (US, slang, by extension) A shotgun (synecdoche for 12 gauge shotgun, the most common chambering for combat and hunting shotguns).
15. A tunnel-like ear piercing consisting of a hollow ring embedded in the lobe.
    • 2013, Destiny Patterson, Samantha Beckworth, Jennifer Proctor, Arose (page 150)

      Jenni didn't really look as though she fit in with the rest of the girls here, she had a nose piercing and angel bites, her long curly dark brown hair with red highlights was pulled back exposing gauges and many other ear piercings and a tattoo […]

16. (slang, uncountable) Cannabis.
    • 1971, Black Creation (volumes 3-6, page 53)

      […] smoking gauge was a new phenomenon to Himes: “When I looked up after turning the corner, all the grimy facades seemed to be a blaze of bright colors, gold, scarlet, blue, green, like an array of peacocks. […]

    • 2000, Cynthia Palmer, ?Michael Horowitz, Sisters of the Extreme

      When we settled, he said, “You've been smoking gauge, haven't you?”

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

gauge (third-person singular simple present gauges, present participle gauging, simple past and past participle gauged)

1. (transitive) To measure or determine with a gauge; to measure the capacity of.
2. (transitive) To estimate.
3. (transitive) To appraise the character or ability of; to judge of.
4. (textile, transitive) To draw into equidistant gathers by running a thread through it.
5. (transitive) To mix (a quantity of ordinary plaster) with a quantity of plaster of Paris.
6. (transitive) To chip, hew or polish (stones, bricks, etc) to a standard size and/or shape.

Translations

See also

• gage
• gouge

References

• gauge in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Middle English

Alternative forms

• gage

Etymology

From Old Northern French gauge, from Frankish *galga, from Proto-Germanic *galgô. Doublet of galwes.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??au?d?(?)/, /??a?d?(?)/

Noun

gauge

1. A customary measurement or scale.

Related terms

• gaugen
• gauger

Descendants

• English: gauge
• Scots: gauge

References

• “gau?e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-22.

Old French

Noun

gauge f (oblique plural gauges, nominative singular gauge, nominative plural gauges)

1. Alternative form of jauge