assay, assaye, assaie

[In Fr. e ai; O. Fr. a ai, asaie; Prov. e ay; Sp. ensayo; Ital. saggio; Lat. exagium = a weighing, a weight; exigo, sup. exactum = to drive out, to examine; ex out, and ago = to lead or drive; Gr. ἐξάγιον ( hexagion ) = a weight used in later times; ἐξαγιάζω ( hexagiazō ) = to examine.] [ASSAY, v., and ESSAY, s. & v.] A. Ordinary Language: *1. The act of trying or experimenting; a trial, an experiment, an attempt, e ay. "Quod this chanoun, "Yet wol I make a ay." Chaucer: C. Т., 13,177. never more To give the a ay of arms against your majesty." Shakesp.: Hamlet , ii. 2. *2. The state of being tried; trial, suffering, hardship. "For they be two the prowest knights on grownd, And oft approved in many hard a ay ." Spenser: F. Q., II. iii. 15. *3. The result of such trial or experiment; spec., purity, value. beholding all the way The goodly workes, and stones of rich a ay ." Spenser: F. Q., IV. x. 15. a ay 4. The thing subjected to trial or examination. (B., 1, 2.) Originally a ay and e ay were the same word, but now a ay is obsolete, except for the testing of metals, while e ay is used for bodily or mental attempts. [ESSAY.] * At all e ays in every way. "He is a frende at all a ayes." Hormanni Vulgar i a (1530). "At all a aies, you bear a heart true bent."Taylor: Workes (1630). ( Hall i well : Contr. to Lexic.) B. Technically : I. Chemistry: 1. The determination what percentage of a metal, especially of a precious one, is in any particular ore or alloy. An ordinary or a simple a ay is designed to ascertain how much a compound of gold or silver varies from the prescribed standard, whilst a parting a ay is designed to separate the two metals from each other in the specimen examined, that the proportion in the bullion of which it is a fair sample may be ascertained. In a gold parting a ay, the amount of silver in the gold is ascertained; and in a silver parting a ay, the amount of gold in the silver. [ASSAYING, TOUCH.] The analysis, or a ay , of an alloy of gold and copper is usually made by cupellation with lead. The weight of the button remaining on the cupel gives directly the amount of gold in the alloy after certain corrections similar to those required in the case of silver. (Graham: Chem., 2nd ed., vol. ii., p. 362.) 2. The alloy or metal a ayed. "... like an a ay fused before the blow-pipe."Darwin: Voyage round the World, ch. iii. II. Law : The examination or testing of the weights and measures of this or any other country by a fixed standard. moneys "You shall... make the a ays of these moneys of gold and and silver, and truly report if the said mo be in weight and finene according to the standard weights for weighing and testing the coins of the realm."- Oath administered to the Jury of Goldsmiths sworn to Test the Pyx . ( Times , Friday, July 17, 1874.)