All 3 Uses of
assay
in
The Odyssey, by Homer (translated by: Butcher & Lang)
- And he will make assay, and take all manner of shapes of things that creep upon the earth, of water likewise, and of fierce fire burning.†
Book 4 *
- And forth he sallied like a lion mountain-bred, trusting in his strength, who fares out blown and rained upon, with flaming eyes; amid the kine he goes or amid the sheep or in the track of the wild deer; yea, his belly bids him go even to the good homestead to make assay upon the flocks.†
Book 6
- And in the morning bid Melanthius, the goatherd, to lead hither the very best goats in all his herds, that we may lay pieces of the thighs on the altar of Apollo the archer, and assay the bow and make an end of the contest.'†
Book 21
Definitions:
-
(1)
(assay) analysis or the results of an analysis -- especially to determine the quantity of an ore (such as gold) in rock or of a chemical substance such as a protein in a tumor
-
(2)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus