| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| essay |
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| SYLLABICATION: | es·say |
| PRONUNCIATION: |   s   , -s |
| NOUN: | 1. (s)a. A short literary composition on a single subject, usually presenting the personal view of the author. b. 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. | | TRANSITIVE VERB: | Inflected forms: es·sayed, es·say·ing, es·says
(-s, s)1. To make an attempt at; try. 2. To subject to a test. | | ETYMOLOGY: | French essai, trial, attempt, from Old French, from essayer, to attempt, from Vulgar Latin *exagire, to weigh out, from Late Latin exagium, a weighing : Latin ex-, ex- + Latin agere, to drive; see ag- in Appendix I. V., from Middle English assaien, from Old French assaer, assaier, variant of essayer. | | OTHER FORMS: | es·sayer —NOUN
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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