sampling

a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.

a screen or mat covered with a dark material for shielding a camera lens from excess light or glare.

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Collins

World English Dictionary

sample (ˈsɑːmp^əl)

—n
1.	a. a small part of anything, intended as representative of the whole; specimen
	b. (as modifier): a sample bottle
2.	statistics Also called: sampling
	a. See also matched sample a set of individuals or items selected from a population for analysis to yield estimates of, or to test hypotheses about, parameters of the whole population. A biased sample is one in which the items selected share some property which influences their distribution, while a random sample is devised to avoid any such interference so that its distribution is affected only by, and so can be held to represent, that of the whole population
	b. (as modifier): sample distribution

—vb
3.	(tr) to take a sample or samples of
4.	music
	a. to take a short extract from (one record) and mix it into a different backing track
	b. to record (a sound) and feed it into a computerized synthesizer so that it can be reproduced at any pitch

[C13: from Old French essample, from Latin exemplumexample]

sampling (ˈsɑːmplɪŋ)

—n
1.	the process of selecting a random sample
2.	a variant of sample
3.	the process of taking a short extract from (a record) and mixing it into a different backing track
4.	a process in which a continuous electrical signal is approximately represented by a series of discrete values, usually regularly spaced

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

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.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage

Cultural Dictionary

sample definition

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.

FOLDOC

Computing Dictionary

sampling definition

DSP
The process of taking a sample of a signal at evenly spaced intervals of time. This is the first step in Digital Signal Processing.
(2001-06-06)

Example sentences

Granted, the statistical sampling of employers at this meeting was in no way

scientific.

The sampling covers only a minuscule part of the prostate, making it easy to

miss regions where cancerous cells may lurk.

In case you shared my confusion on this topic, the sampling of messages below

may be useful to you as well.

We're also collecting nasal swabs and sampling tap water.

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public-opinion poll random number random sampling sample sampling distribution sequential analysis

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