I. (ˈ)e|sā, ə̇ˈsā transitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: Middle French essaier, assaier, from Old French, from essai, assai (n.)
1.
a. archaic : to put to a test : try out
b. obsolete : to find out by making a test
c. : assay II 4a
2.
a. : to attempt or endeavor especially by tentative methods or by appraising, probing, or seeking expedients — used with the infinitive
Dick, being carefully installed in the saddle, essayed to descend — Arnold Bennett
the heavy butler essayed to speak, but the tremendous blow and the baronet's gesture choked him — George Meredith
b. : to make an effort to do, accomplish, perform, deal with, or venture upon (something difficult or presenting obstacles)
stayed there all day and in the evening again essayed escape — F.Tennyson Jesse
the medieval men who essayed the paths of natural science — H.O.Taylor
the ballerina essayed a dramatic role on televison — Current Biography
the second part essays to give in sixty-four pages an account of our modern knowledge of the universe — Times Literary Supplement
Synonyms: see try
II. in sense 2 ˈeˌsā sometimes -_sā or -_sē or -_si in other senses (ˈ)e|sā or ə̇ˈsā noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle French essai, assai, from Old French, from Late Latin exagium act of weighing, weight, balance, from Latin ex- + -agium, from agere to do, drive; influenced by Latin exigere to weigh, test, drive out — more at agent , exact (adjective)
1.
a. : an effort made to do or perform : attempt , endeavor
make an essay to assist a friend
making an essay to be gallant, “Present company excepted”, he said with a smile and a little bow — Aldous Huxley
nowhere in the book do we find any systematic essay to characterize this creative partnership — Lee Strasberg
politics in England is one long essay in the gentle art of compromise — W.A.Robson
especially : an initial and tentative effort
the fledgling bird made a small essay at flying
b. : the result or product of the effort to do or perform something (as something difficult or presenting unusual obstacles)
Haydn's final essay in the symphonic form — Sydney (Australia) Bulletin
his first essays in the skyscraper and the industrial building, which paved the way for the successful buildings of the middle nineteen-thirties — Lewis Mumford
turn … the monstrously dull Brahms sonata into the heroic essay it was undoubtedly meant to be — New York Herald Tribune
especially : a usually tentative and short intellectual or artistic excursion (as into a new field of endeavor)
a schizoid novel … an admirable essay into the picaresque — New Yorker
concertino for pianoforte and orchestra, a charming essay in the modernized classical vein — Walter Legge
Brook's first essay into politics was in the 1932 state elections campaign — Current Biography
2.
a. : an analytic, interpretative, or critical literary composition usually much shorter and less systematic and formal than a dissertation or thesis and usually dealing with its subject from a limited often personal point of view
the thesis must not be a mere essay ; it must present evidence of a thorough acquaintance with some limited special field, obtained by recourse to original sources — Bulletin of New York University
persuasion is more starkly and simply the purpose of the essay than of fiction or poetry, since the essay deals always with an idea — Katharine F. Gerould
in style and structure the three volumes … completed are a thousand-page essay rather than a systematic treatise — Geoffrey Bruun
b. : something resembling or suggesting such a composition especially in its presentation of an extended analytic, interpretative, or critical view of something (as by a series of photographs or a documentary film)
a book he did on Europe's postwar children remains one of the most arresting essays of modern photography — Newsweek
the Shelter drawings made during the war are frankly graphic essays done with no thought of sculpture — R.J.Goldwater
two young dancers whose evident physical talents have not yet received the polish that this essay in elegant athletics requires — Winthrop Sargeant
3. : trial , test
make an essay of the various methods of removing paint
4.
a. obsolete : a trial specimen : sample , example
b. : a proof of an unaccepted design for a stamp or piece of paper money