3. (verb)try, seek, attempt, essay, assay make an effort or attempt "He tried to shake off his fears"; "The infant had essayed a few wobbly steps"; "The police attempted to stop the thief"; "He sought to improve himself"; "She always seeks to do good in the world"
4. (verb)test, prove, try, try out, examine, essay put to the test, as for its quality, or give experimental use to "This approach has been tried with good results"; "Test this recipe"
1. (noun)essay a piece of intellectual writing to be published Mark Twain's essay on Benjamin Franklin
2. essay a paper written by a student ***a 750-word essay
Definition of 'essay'
Webster Dictionary
1. (noun)essay 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
2. (noun)essay 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
3. (noun)essay an assay. See Assay, n
4. (noun)essay 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
5. (noun)essay to test the value and purity of (metals); to assay. See Assay
Definitions of essay 
Afrikaans: opstel
Arabic: مَقال، مَقالَه
Bulgarian: есе
Brazilian: composição
Czech: písemná práce; test
German: der Aufsatz
Danish: essay; skriftlig opgave; 
Greek: πραγματεία, δοκίμιο
Spanish: ensayo, redacción
Estonian: essee
Farsi: مقاله
Finnish: essee
French: rédaction, essai
Hebrew: מַאֲמָר
Hindi: प्रयास
Croatian: esej, sastavak
Hungarian: esszé
Indonesian: karangan
Icelandic: ritgerð
Italian: saggio, composizione
Japanese: 小論
Korean: 소론, 평론, 논평; 수필, 에세이
Lithuanian: rašinys, esė
Latvian: eseja; sacerējums
Malay: esei
Dutch: opstel
Norwegian: essay, (skole)stil
Polish: wypracowanie, esej
Persian: مقاله
Pashto: هڅه، كوښښ: مقاله، مضمون
Portuguese: composição
Romanian: eseu, compunere
Russian: эссе; сочинение
Slovak: písomná práca; esej
Slovenian: esej
Serbian: esej
Swedish: essä, uppsats
Thai: เรียงความ
Turkish: deneme
Taiwanese: 隨筆
Ukrainian: есе; твір
Urdu: کسی موضوع پر کوئی مضمون ی
Vietnamese: bài tiểu luận
Chinese: 随笔
