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单词 essay
释义 es·say
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
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更新时间:2024/9/22 9:43:43