n.; pl. Essays [ F. essai, fr. L. exagium a weighing, weight, balance; ex out + agere to drive, do; cf. examen, exagmen, a means of weighing, a weighing, the tongue of a balance, exigere to drive out, examine, weigh, Gr. 'exa`gion a weight, 'exagia`zein to examine, 'exa`gein to drive out, export. See Agent, and cf. Exact, Examine, Assay. ] 1. An effort made, or exertion of body or mind, for the performance of anything; a trial; attempt; as, to make an essay to benefit a friend. “The essay at organization.” M. Arnold. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Lit.) A composition treating of any particular subject; -- usually shorter and less methodical than a formal, finished treatise; as, an essay on the life and writings of Homer; an essay on fossils, or on commerce. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. An assay. See Assay, n. [ Obs. ]

Syn. -- Attempt; trial; endeavor; effort; tract; treatise; dissertation; disquisition. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Essayed p. pr. & vb. n. Essaying. ] [ F. essayer. See Essay, n. ] 1. To exert one's power or faculties upon; to make an effort to perform; to attempt; to endeavor; to make experiment or trial of; to try. [ 1913 Webster ]

What marvel if I thus essay to sing? Byron. [ 1913 Webster ]

Essaying nothing she can not perform. Emerson. [ 1913 Webster ]

A danger lest the young enthusiast . . . should essay the impossible. J. C. Shairp. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To test the value and purity of (metals); to assay. See Assay. [ Obs. ] Locke. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who essays. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A writer of an essay, or of essays. B. Jonson. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. essence, L. essentia, formed as if fr. a p. pr. of esse to be. See Is, and cf. Entity. ] 1. The constituent elementary notions which constitute a complex notion, and must be enumerated to define it; sometimes called the nominal essence. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The constituent quality or qualities which belong to any object, or class of objects, or on which they depend for being what they are (distinguished as real essence); the real being, divested of all logical accidents; that quality which constitutes or marks the true nature of anything; distinctive character; hence, virtue or quality of a thing, separated from its grosser parts. [ 1913 Webster ]

The laws are at present, both in form and essence, the greatest curse that society labors under. Landor. [ 1913 Webster ]

Gifts and alms are the expressions, not the essence of this virtue [ charity ]. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

The essence of Addison's humor is irony. Courthope. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Constituent substance. [ 1913 Webster ]

And uncompounded is their essence pure. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A being; esp., a purely spiritual being. [ 1913 Webster ]

As far as gods and heavenly essences
Can perish. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

He had been indulging in fanciful speculations on spiritual essences, until . . . he had and ideal world of his own around him. W. Irving. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. The predominant qualities or virtues of a plant or drug, extracted and refined from grosser matter; or, more strictly, the solution in spirits of wine of a volatile or essential oil; as, the essence of mint, and the like. [ 1913 Webster ]

The . . . word essence . . . scarcely underwent a more complete transformation when from being the abstract of the verb “to be, ” it came to denote something sufficiently concrete to be inclosed in a glass bottle. J. S. Mill. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. Perfume; odor; scent; or the volatile matter constituting perfume. [ 1913 Webster ]

Nor let the essences exhale. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Essenced p. pr. & vb. n. Essencing ] To perfume; to scent. “Essenced fops.” Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Essenes [ Gr. &unr_;, lit., physicians, because they practiced medicine, fr. Chald āsayā to heal, cf. Heb. asā. ] One of a sect among the Jews in the time of our Savior, remarkable for their strictness and abstinence. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The doctrine or the practices of the Essenes. De Quincey. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Cf. F. essentiel. See Essence. ] 1. Belonging to the essence, or that which makes an object, or class of objects, what it is. [ 1913 Webster ]

Majestic as the voice sometimes became, there was forever in it an essential character of plaintiveness. Hawthorne. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Hence, really existing; existent. [ 1913 Webster ]

Is it true, that thou art but a name,
And no essential thing? Webster (1623). [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Important in the highest degree; indispensable to the attainment of an object; indispensably necessary. [ 1913 Webster ]

Judgment's more essential to a general
Than courage. Denham. [ 1913 Webster ]

How to live? -- that is the essential question for us. H. Spencer. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Containing the essence or characteristic portion of a substance, as of a plant; highly rectified; pure; hence, unmixed; as, an essential oil. “Mine own essential horror.” Ford. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Mus.) Necessary; indispensable; -- said of those tones which constitute a chord, in distinction from ornamental or passing tones. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. (Med.) Idiopathic; independent of other diseases. [ 1913 Webster ]

Essential character (Biol.), the prominent characteristics which serve to distinguish one genus, species, etc., from another. --
Essential disease,
Essential fever (Med.), one that is not dependent on another. --
Essential oils (Chem.), a class of volatile oils, extracted from plants, fruits, or flowers, having each its characteristic odor, and hot burning taste. They are used in essences, perfumery, etc., and include many varieties of compounds; as lemon oil is a terpene, oil of bitter almonds an aldehyde, oil of wintergreen an ethereal salt, etc.; -- called also volatile oils in distinction from the fixed or nonvolatile. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. Existence; being. [ Obs. ] Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. That which is essential; first or constituent principle; as, the essentials of religion. [ 1913 Webster ]