assay
– to commence; to try it.
Possibly derived from the phrase “to take the assay or essay,” i.e., to taste wine to prove that it is not poisoned. It may have been brought into use by counterfeit coiners.
Image by Greg_e via Flickr
Sources
Barrère, Albert and Charles G. Leland. A Dictionary of Slang, Jargon, and Cant. [London]: [...]
In the earliest days of colonial America, burglary was not considered much of a problem. Most people in the community knew each other, and strangers were quickly identified. As more people settled in America and cities grew bigger, however, burglary became a much more frequent occurrence, and it increasingly was treated with harsh punishment.
Massachusetts
Even [...]
A Nation of Counterfeiters: Capitalists, Con Men, and the Making of the United States by Stephen Mihm (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2007), 457 pp.
Counterfeiting was widespread during the early history of the United States. Some estimates from the time claimed that between ten and fifty percent of the circulating currency was counterfeit. Such high [...]
Newton and the Counterfeiter: The Unknown Detective Career of the World’s Greatest Scientist by Thomas Levenson (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009), 318 pp.
In Newton and the Counterfeiter, Thomas Levenson (Head of the Graduate Program in Science Writing at MIT) tells the little known story of Sir Isaac Newton’s career as Warden of the Royal Mint. [...]
Note: This post is part of a series on Convict Transportation to the American colonies.
On July 15, 1751 the New-York Gazette, or Weekly Post-Boy reported that Onesiphorus Lucas was executed in Annapolis in a follow-up to a newspaper story that appeared two weeks earlier about how Lucas was found guilty of burglary and sentenced to [...]
If the 50-degree climate of the abandoned copper mine doesn’t make you shiver, the thought that these underground tunnels once served as sleeping quarters for convicted criminals will.
The Old New-Gate Prison and Copper Mine, a National Historic Landmark and State Archaeological Preserve in East Granby, CT, provides a fun, educational journey back to [...]
