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essay - 6 dictionary results
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es⋅say

  [n. es-ey for 1, 2; es-ey, e-sey for 3–5; v. e-sey]
Use essay in a Sentence
–noun
1. a short literary composition on a particular theme or subject, usually in prose and generally analytic, speculative, or interpretative.
2. anything resembling such a composition: a picture essay.
3. an effort to perform or accomplish something; attempt.
4. Philately. a design for a proposed stamp differing in any way from the design of the stamp as issued.
5. Obsolete. a tentative effort; trial; assay.
–verb (used with object)
6. to try; attempt.
7. to put to the test; make trial of.
Origin:
1475–85; < MF essayer, c. AF assayer to assay < LL exagium a weighing, equiv. to *exag(ere), for L exigere to examine, test, lit., to drive out (see exact ) + -ium -ium

Related forms:
es⋅say⋅er, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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es·say   (ěs'ā', ě-sā')   
n.  
  1. (ěs'ā')
    1. A short literary composition on a single subject, usually presenting the personal view of the author.
    2. Something resembling such a composition: a photojournalistic essay.
  2. A testing or trial of the value or nature of a thing: an essay of the students' capabilities.
  3. An initial attempt or endeavor, especially a tentative attempt.
tr.v.   (ě-sā', ěs'ā') es·sayed, es·say·ing, es·says
  1. To make an attempt at; try.
  2. To subject to a test.

[French essai, trial, attempt, from Old French, from essayer, to attempt, from Vulgar Latin *exagiāre, to weigh out, from Late Latin exagium, a weighing : Latin ex-, ex- + Latin agere, to drive; see ag- in Indo-European roots. V., from Middle English assaien, from Old French assaer, assaier, variant of essayer.]
es·say'er n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Essay

Es"say\, n.; pl. Essays. [F. essai, fr. L. exagium a weighing, weight, balance; ex out + agere to drive, do; cf. examen, exagmen, a means of weighing, a weighing, the tongue of a balance, exigere to drive out, examine, weigh, Gr. 'exa`gion a weight, 'exagia`zein to examine, 'exa`gein to drive out, export. See Agent, and cf. Exact, Examine, Assay.]

1. An effort made, or exertion of body or mind, for the performance of anything; a trial; attempt; as, to make an essay to benefit a friend. "The essay at organization." --M. Arnold.

2. (Lit.) A composition treating of any particular subject; -- usually shorter and less methodical than a formal, finished treatise; as, an essay on the life and writings of Homer; an essay on fossils, or on commerce.

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

Syn: Attempt; trial; endeavor; effort; tract; treatise; dissertation; disquisition.

Essay

Es*say"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Essayed; p. pr. & vb. n. Essaying.] [F. essayer. See Essay, n.]

1. To exert one's power or faculties upon; to make an effort to perform; to attempt; to endeavor; to make experiment or trial of; to try.

What marvel if I thus essay to sing? --Byron.

Essaying nothing she can not perform. --Emerson.

A danger lest the young enthusiast . . . should essay the impossible. --J. C. Shairp.

2. To test the value and purity of (metals); to assay. See Assay. [Obs.] --Locke.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : essay
Spanish: ensayo, redacción,
German: der Aufsatz,
Japanese: 小論
More Translations »

essay

A short piece of writing on one subject, usually presenting the author's own views. Michel de Montaigne, Francis Bacon, and Ralph Waldo Emerson are celebrated for their essays.

The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source

essay 
1597, "short non-fiction literary composition" (first attested in writings of Francis Bacon, probably in imitation of Montaigne), from M.Fr. essai "trial, attempt, essay," from L.L. exagium "a weighing, weight," from L. exigere "test," from ex- "out" + agere apparently meaning here "to weigh." The suggestion is of unpolished writing. Essayist is from 1609. The more literal verb meaning "to put to proof, test the mettle of" is from 1483; this sense has mostly gone with the divergent spelling assay (q.v.).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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