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Sample - 8 dictionary results

sam⋅ple

[sam-puhl, sahm-] noun, adjective, verb, -pled, -pling.
–noun
1. a small part of anything or one of a number, intended to show the quality, style, or nature of the whole; specimen.
2. Statistics. a subset of a population: to study a sample of the total population.
3. a sound of short duration, as a musical tone or a drumbeat, digitally stored in a synthesizer for playback.
–adjective
4. serving as a specimen: a sample piece of cloth.
–verb (used with object)
5. to take a sample or samples of; test or judge by a sample.

Origin:
1250–1300; ME < OF essample. See example


1. See example.
sam·ple   (sām'pəl)   
n.  
    1. A portion, piece, or segment that is representative of a whole.
    2. An entity that is representative of a class; a specimen. See Synonyms at example.
  1. Statistics A set of elements drawn from and analyzed to estimate the characteristics of a population. Also called sampling.
  2. A usually digitized audio segment taken from an original recording and inserted, often repetitively, in a new recording.
tr.v.   sam·pled, sam·pling, sam·ples
  1. To take a sample of, especially to test or examine by a sample: the restaurant critic who must sample a little of everything.
  2. To use or incorporate (an audio segment of an original recording) in a new recording: a song that samples the bass line of a 1970s disco tune.
adj.  Serving as a representative or example: sample test questions; a sample piece of fabric.

[Partly Middle English (from Anglo-Norman) and partly short for Middle English ensample (from Anglo-Norman), both from Latin exemplum; see example.]

Sample

Sam"ple\, n. [OE. sample, asaumple, OF. essample, example, fr. L. exemplum. See Example, and cf. Ensample, Sampler.]

1. Example; pattern. [Obs.] --Spenser. "A sample to the youngest." --Shak.

Thus he concludes, and every hardy knight His sample followed. --Fairfax.

2. A part of anything presented for inspection, or shown as evidence of the quality of the whole; a specimen; as, goods are often purchased by samples.

I design this but for a sample of what I hope more fully to discuss. --Woodward.

Syn: Specimen; example. See Specimen.

Sample

Sam"ple\, v. t. 1. To make or show something similar to; to match. --Bp. Hall.

2. To take or to test a sample or samples of; as, to sample sugar, teas, wools, cloths.
Language Translation for : Sample
Spanish: muestra,
German: die Probe, Probe-…,
Japanese: 見本

sample

In statistics, a group drawn from a larger population and used to estimate the characteristics of the whole population.

Note: Opinion polls use small groups of people, often selected at random, as a sample of the opinions of the general public.

sample 
c.1300, "something which confirms a proposition or statement," from Anglo-Fr. saumple, aphetic of O.Fr. essample, from L. exemplum "a sample" (see example). Meaning "small quantity (of something) from which the general quality (of the whole) may be inferred" (usually in a commercial sense) is recorded from 1428; sense of "specimen for scientific sampling" is from 1878. The verb meaning "to test by taking a sample" is from 1767.

Main Entry: sam·ple
Pronunciation: 'sam-p&l
Function: noun
1 : a representative part or a single item from a larger whole or groupespecially when presented for inspection or shown as evidence of quality : SPECIMEN sample>
2 : a finite part of a statistical population whose properties are studied to gain information about the whole

sample digital signal processing
The result of measuring the amplitude of an analog signal at a specified time. In digital signal processing a sample is a signed or unsigned number and the number of samples per second is called the sample rate.
(2001-06-06)

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