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

A small standard weight used in assaying bullion, etc., sometimes equaling 0.5 gram, but varying with the assayer.

A weight of 29.166 + grams used in assaying, for convenience. Since it bears the same relation to the milligram that a ton of 2000 avoirdupois pounds does to the troy ounce, the weight in milligrams of precious metal obtained from an assay ton of ore gives directly the number of ounces to the ton.

That may be assayed.

One who assays. Specifically: One who examines metallic ores or compounds, for the purpose of determining the amount of any particular metal in the same, especially of gold or silver.

The act or process of testing, esp. of analyzing or examining metals and ores, to determine the proportion of pure metal.

To assay, or attempt, improperly or unsuccessfully. [Obs.] W. Browne.

To make trial or experiment of; to try; to endeavor to do or perform (some action); to assay; as, to attempt to sing; to attempt a bold flight. Something attempted, something done, Has earned a night's repose. Longfellow.

A globule of metal remaining onan assay cupel or in a crucible, after fusion. Button hook, a hook for catching a button and drawing it through a buttonhole, as in buttoning boots and gloves. -- Button shell (Zoöl.), a small, univalve marine shell of the genus Rotella. -- Button snakeroot. (Bot.) (a) The American comp…

To test or assay, as silk (to ascertain the proportion of moisture it contains). McElrath.

To discover; to reveal; to discoure. [Obs.] I will, if please you it discure, assay To ease you of that ill, so wisely as I may. Spenser.

Proving by experiments or tests. Docimastic art, metallurgy, or the art of assaying metals; the art of separating metals from foreign matters, and determining the nature and quantity of metallic substances contained in any ore or mineral.

A treatise on the art of testing, as in assaying metals, etc.

An assay. See Assay, n. [Obs.]

r newly fledged. [Obs.] Like eyas hawk up mounts unto the skies, His newly budded pinions assay. Spebser.

The official stamp of the Goldsmiths' Company and other assay offices, in the United Kingdom, on gold and silver articles, attesting their purity. Also used figuratively; -- as, a word or phrase lacks the hall-mark of the best writers.

The art or process of assaying or reducing ores by means of liquid reagents.

nd determination of alloys; esp., the separation, as by acids, of gold from silver in the assay button.

The button of metal from an assay.

white. P. Plowman. A goodly lady clad in scarlet red, Purfled with gold and pearl of rich assay. Spenser.