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on, of the principal points, facts, or statements, in a preceding discourse, argument, or essay.

To touch again, or rework, in order to improve; to revise; as, to retouch a picture or an essay.

A periodical containing critical essays upon matters of interest, as new productions in literature, art, etc.

taining to rudiments; consisting in first principles; elementary; initial; as, rudimental essays.

Essay; trial; attempt. [Obs.] To give a say at, to attempt. B. Jonson.

Like a scholar, or learned person; showing the qualities of a scholar; as, a scholarly essay or critique. -- adv.

as, the shortness of a journey; the shortness of the days in winter; the shortness of an essay; the shortness of the memory; a shortness of provisions; shortness of breath.

uib. Tooke. A similar vein satire upon the emptiness of writers is given in his "Tritical Essay upon the Faculties of the Human Mind;" but that is a mere skit compared with this strange performance. Leslie Stephen.

A sarcastic speech or publication; a petty lampoon; a brief, witty essay. Who copied his squibs, and reëchoed his jokes. Goldsmith.

or amandment to a written composition; a touch; as, to give some finishing strokes to an essay. Addison.

A collection of short essays by different authors on a common topic; -- so called from the appellation given to the philosophical dialogue by the Greeks.

matic arrangement of plants or animals; a systematic course of study. Now we deal much in essays, and unreasonably despise systematical learning; whereas our fathers had a just value for regularity and systems. I. Watts. A representation of phenomena, in order to answer the purposes of science, must be systematic. Whew…

To become acquainted with by actual trial; to essay; to experience; to undergo. He . . . should taste death for every man. Heb. ii. 9.

Of or pertaining to a trial or trials; essaying; experimental. "A slow, tentative manner." Carlyle. -- Ten*ta"tive*ly, adv.

A composition or essay required of a pupil. Locke.

Hence, an essay or dissertation written upon specific or definite theme; especially, an essay presented by a candidate for a diploma or degree. I told them of the grave, becoming, and sublime deportment they should assume upon this mystical occasion, and read them two homilies and a thesis of my own composing, to prepa…

A slight and brief essay. [Colloq.] Print my preface in such form as, in the booksellers' phrase, will make a sixpenny touch. Swift.

A treatise; a tract; an essay. Agreeing in substance with Augustin's, from whose fourteenth Tractate on St. John the words are translated. Hare.

To essay; to attempt; to endeavor. Let us try . . . to found a path. Milton. To try on. (a) To put on, as a garment, to ascertain whether it fits the person. (b) To attempt; to undertake. [Slang] Dickens.

Two times; once and again. He twice essayed to cast his son in gold. Dryden.