Sample
WordNet
noun
(1) A small part of something intended as representative of the whole
(2) Items selected at random from a population and used to test hypotheses about the population
(3) All or part of a natural object that is collected and preserved as an example of its class
verb
(4) Take a sample of
"Try these new crackers"
"Sample the regional dishes"
WiktionaryText
Etymology
sample, asaumple, essample, example, from exemplum.
Noun
- A part of anything taken or presented for inspection, or shown as evidence of the quality of the whole; a specimen; as, goods are often purchased by samples.
- "I design this but for a sample of what I hope more fully to discuss." -Woodward.
- A subset of a population selected for measurement, observation or questioning, to provide statistical information about the population.
- "...it is possible it [the Anglo-Saxon race] might stand second to the Scandinavian countries [in average height] if a fair sample of their population were obtained." Francis Galton et al. (1883). Final Report of the Anthropometric Committee, Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, p. 269.
- Gratuitous borrowing of easily recognised phases (or moments) from other music (or movies) in a recording, used to emphasize a particular point by implying a certain context.
- Example; pattern.
- "Thus he concludes, and every hardy knight His sample followed." -Fairfax.
Verb
- To make or show something similar to; to match.
- To take or to test a sample or samples of; as, to sample sugar, teas, wool, cloth.