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to examine or analyze:
to assay a situation; to assay an event.
Metallurgy. to analyze (an ore, alloy, etc.) in order to determine the quantity of gold, silver, or other metal in it.
Pharmacology. to subject (a drug) to an analysis for the determination of its potency or composition.
to judge the quality of; assess; evaluate:
to assay someone’s efforts.
to try or test; put to trial:
to assay one’s strength; to assay one’s debating abilities.
to attempt; try; essay:
to assay a dance step.
to contain, as shown by analysis, a certain proportion of usually precious metal.
Metallurgy. determination of the amount of metal, especially gold or silver, in an ore, alloy, etc.
a substance undergoing analysis or trial.
a detailed report of the findings in assaying a substance.
Archaic. examination; trial; attempt; essay.
Historical Examples

In this place I ought not to omit mention of another method of assaying employed by some assayers.
De Re Metallica Georgius Agricola

They are the same as those used by assayers in their ordinary furnaces.
A Dictionary of Arts, Manufactures and Mines Andrew Ure

Some assayers use a little powdered fluor-spar to assist the fusion of refractory slags.
A Textbook of Assaying: For the Use of Those Connected with Mines. Cornelius Beringer and John Jacob Beringer

You see we assayers have to take the word of the miners as to where the ore comes from.
Dick Hamilton’s Fortune Howard R. Garis

assayers of our own day, however, generally make the cupels from beech ashes.
De Re Metallica Georgius Agricola

Out of the return of the twenty assayers of the different smelters, probably not a half per cent.
Chambers’s Edinburgh Journal, No. 458 Various

Some assayers advise cleaning by dipping in warm dilute hydrochloric acid followed by washing in water and drying.
A Textbook of Assaying: For the Use of Those Connected with Mines. Cornelius Beringer and John Jacob Beringer

Twas even reported that they took a sample of the right stuff to the assayers office.
The Heart of Canyon Pass Thomas K. Holmes

Some assayers cover their pots with a flat cover placed loosely on, while others leave the mixture in the open pot.
A Textbook of Assaying: For the Use of Those Connected with Mines. Cornelius Beringer and John Jacob Beringer

Such experiments are often made by assayers, but seldom recorded.
A Textbook of Assaying: For the Use of Those Connected with Mines. Cornelius Beringer and John Jacob Beringer

verb (əˈseɪ)
to subject (a substance, such as silver or gold) to chemical analysis, as in the determination of the amount of impurity
(transitive) to attempt (something or to do something)
(transitive; may take a clause as object) to test, analyse, or evaluate: to assay the significance of early childhood experience
noun (əˈseɪ; ˈæseɪ)

an analysis, esp a determination of the amount of metal in an ore or the amounts of impurities in a precious metal
(as modifier): an assay office

a substance undergoing an analysis
a written report on the results of an analysis
a test
(archaic) an attempt
v.

c.1300, “to try, endeavor, strive; test the quality of,” from Anglo-French assaier, from assai (n.), from Old French essai “trial” (see essay).
n.

“trial, test of quality, test of character,” mid-14c., from Anglo-French assai (see assay (v.)). Meaning “analysis” is from late 14c.

assay as·say (ās’ā’, ā-sā’)
n.

Qualitative or quantitative analysis of a substance, especially of an ore or a drug, to determine its components.

A substance to be so analyzed.

The result of such an analysis.

An analysis or examination.

v. as·sayed, as·say·ing, as·says (ā-sā’, ās’ā’)

To subject a substance to chemical analysis.

To examine a person’s capability by trial or experiment; put to a test.

To evaluate a situation; assess.

To attempt; try.

To be shown by analysis to contain a certain proportion of atoms, molecules, compounds, or precious metal.

assay
(ās’ā, ə-sā’)

A quantitative determination of the amount of a given substance in a particular sample. Assays are regularly used to determine the purity of precious metals. They can be performed by wet methods or dry methods. In the wet method, the sample is dissolved in a reagent, like an acid, until the purified metal is separated out. In the dry method, the sample is mixed with a flux (a substance such as borax or silica that helps lower the melting temperature) and then heated to the point where impurities in the metal fuse with the flux, leaving the purified metal as a residue.

A bioassay.