assay

assay is a Noun

Definition:

[1] Trial; attempt; essay. [Obs.] Chaucer. I am withal persuaded that it may prove much more easy in the assay than it now seems at distance. Milton.

[2] Examination and determination; test; as, an assay of bread or wine. [Obs.] This can not be, by no assay of reason. Shak.

[3] Trial by danger or by affliction; adventure; risk; hardship; state of being tried. [Obs.] Through many hard assays which did betide. Spenser.

[4] Tested purity or value. [Obs.] With gold and pearl of rich assay. Spenser.

[5] 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.

[6] The alloy or metal to be assayed. Ure. Assay and essay are radically the same word; but modern usage has appropriated assay chiefly to experiments in metallurgy, and essay to intellectual and bodily efforts. See Essay.]