Assay
Webster's Dictionary [1]
(1): (n.) Trial; attempt; essay.
(2): (n.) Examination and determination; test; as, an assay of bread or wine.
(3): (v.) To subject, as an ore, alloy, or other metallic compound, to chemical or metallurgical examination, in order to determine the amount of a particular metal contained in it, or to ascertain its composition.
(4): (n.) Trial by danger or by affliction; adventure; risk; hardship; state of being tried.
(5): (n.) Tested purity or value.
(6): (n.) 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): (n.) The alloy or metal to be assayed.
(8): (v. i.) To attempt, try, or endeavor.
(9): (v.) To try; to attempt; to apply.
(10): (v.) To affect.
(11): (v.) To try tasting, as food or drink.
King James Dictionary [2]
ASSA'Y, n. L. sequor assequor, to follow, to examine. See Essay.
1. The trial of the goodness, purity, weight, value, &c. of metals or metallic substances. Any operation or experiement for ascertaining the quantity of a precious metal in an ore or mineral. Analysis is a term of more comprehensive import, extending to an examination of the nature and quantities of all parts of the compound. 2. In law, an examination of weights and measures by the standard. 3. Examination trial effort first entrance upon any business attempt. In these senses, which are found in old authors, now rarely used. See Essay. 4. Value great purity. Obs.
ASSA'Y,
1. To try or prove, by examination or experiment, the quantity and purity of metallic substances. 2. To apply to the touchstone.
Vine's Expository Dictionary of NT Words [3]
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia [4]
a - sā ´ (יאל , yā'al ; נסה , nāṣāh ; πειράζειν , peirázein ; πειρᾶσθαι , peirásthai ; πεῖραν λαμβάνειν , peı́̄ran lambánein ): The Hebrew and Greek words which are rendered in the King James Version "assay" are so rendered in the Revised Version (British and American), and the use of it is extended in the Revised Version (British and American) in two additional cases. The Hebrew word yā'al ( 1 Samuel 17:39 ) is used of David clad in Saul's armor, who "assayed," that is, "tried unsuccessfully," to go and attack Goliath in it, for "he had not proved it," where nāṣāh is the verb. In Deuteronomy 4:34 and Job 4:2 ה , nāṣāh is rendered "assay," in the sense of "attempt," "venture." In Acts 16:7 Paul is said to have "assayed," that is, "attempted" (but was hindered), to go into Bithynia, and now in Acts 24:6 Paul is charged with having "assayed," that is, "having had the audacity," to profane the temple, where peirazein is the verb used in both cases. In Acts 9:26 , and now in the Revised Version (British and American) Acts 26:21 , "assay," renders the verb peirasthai , "to attempt," in both cases unsuccessfully. In Hebrews 11:29 it translates two Greek words peiran lambanein "to make an attempt unsuccessfully."
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