• IPA: /ˈæseɪ/, /əˈseɪ/

assay (plural assays)

1. Trial, attempt.
   • [1644], [John Milton], Of Education. To Master Samuel Hartlib, [London: Printed for Thomas Underhill and/or for Thomas Johnson], OCLC 946735316 ↗:

     I am withal persuaded that it may prove much more easy in the assay than it now seems at distance.

2. Examination and determination; test.
   • c. 1603–1604, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act I, scene iii]:

     This cannot be, by no assay of reason.

3. The qualitative or quantitative chemical analysis of something.
4. Trial by danger or by affliction; adventure; risk; hardship; state of being tried.

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5. Tested purity or value.

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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.

• German: Versuch, Prüfung, Test, Untersuchung
• Italian: prova, tentativo
• Russian: о́пыт
• Spanish: ensayo

• French: essai, dosage
• German: Assay, Analyse, Untersuchung
• Italian: analisi, saggiatura, saggio
• Portuguese: ensaio
• Russian: про́ба
• Spanish: ensayo

assay (assays, present participle assaying; past assayed, past participle assayed)

1. (transitive) To attempt (something). [from 14th c.]
   • c. 1604–1605, William Shakespeare, “All’s VVell, that Ends VVell”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act III, scene vii]:

     To-night let us assay our plot.

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book 9”, in Paradise Lost. A Poem Written in Ten Books, London: Printed [by Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […] [a]nd by Robert Boulter […] [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], OCLC 228722708 ↗; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: The Text Exactly Reproduced from the First Edition of 1667: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554 ↗:

     Soft words to his fierce passion she assayed.

   • 1936, Alfred Edward Housman, More Poems, IV, The Sage to the Young Man ↗, ll.5-8:

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

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

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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.]
   • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, [http://quod.lib.umich.edu/c/cme/MaloryWks2/1:6.18?rgn=div2;view=fulltext chapter xviij], in Le Morte Darthur, book IV:

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5. To affect.

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6. To try tasting, as food or drink.

• German: versuchen, probieren
• Russian: пыта́ться
• Spanish: probar, tratar

• French: analyser
• German: analysieren
• Russian: определя́ть
• Spanish: aquilatar, analizar