1870 Rep. Dept. Inspector Guano & Fertilizers in Rep. & Resol. Gen. Assembly State S. Carolina (1871) 641 The sample is afterwards ground to powder, and a sub-sample taken from the whole for analysis.

1913 Econ. Geol. 8 134 Each sample has thus been divided into 10 subsamples which may be used to estimate roughly the probable error.

1959 H. Barnes Oceanogr. & Marine Biol. i. 32 (caption) Stempel (Suction) pipette. Used for taking an aliquot from a plankton sample. The sub-sample is contained between the curved part of the plunger and the barrel of the pipette.

1972 H. J. Eysenck Psychol. is about People ii. 92 The actual mean scores for P, E and N in the general population, and in various sub-samples graded by sex, age and class are known.

2002 Sunday Times (Nexis) 6 Jan. Opposition to euro membership was far stronger with 36% in favour of staying out indefinitely, compared with 26% in the sub-sample now.

1884 Fifth Ann. Rep. New Jersey State Agric. Exper. Station 128 One-half of each portion was stamped into a clean, dry oil barrel, while the other half was placed in baskets; later the contents of the baskets were mixed and sub-sampled.

1912 24th Ann. Rep. Mass. Agric. Exper. Station i. 225 The dry matter was determined by taking a representative sample at the time of harvesting, running it through a cutter, subsampling, placing the subsample in a glass-stoppered jar and drying at 100° C.

1959 H. Barnes Oceanogr. & Marine Biol. i. 32 If larger nets are employed then it [sc. the catch] may have to be sub-sampled and only a fraction counted.

2007 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 5 June f1 Each sample..is subsampled and dried in a food dehydrator for a few hours at about 100 degrees Fahrenheit, then vacuum sealed in plastic.