sample

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[edit] English

[edit] Etymology

Old English sample, asaumple, Old French essample, example, from Latin exemplum.

[edit] Pronunciation

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[edit] Noun

Singular
sample

Plural
samples

sample (plural samples)

  1. 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.
  2. (statistics) 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.
  3. (music) 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.
  4. (obsolete) Example; pattern.
    "Thus he concludes, and every hardy knight His sample followed." -Fairfax.

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[edit] Translations

[edit] Verb

Infinitive
to sample

Third person singular
samples

Simple past
sampled

Past participle
sampled

Present participle
sampling

to sample (third-person singular simple present samples, present participle sampling, simple past and past participle sampled)

  1. To make or show something similar to; to match.
  2. To take or to test a sample or samples of; as, to sample sugar, teas, wool, cloth.

[edit] Translations

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