sample Meaning, Definition & Usage

noun a small part of something intended as representative of the whole
noun items selected at random from a population and used to test hypotheses about the population
sample distribution; sampling.
noun all or part of a natural object that is collected and preserved as an example of its class
verb take a sample of
try; taste; try out.
- Try these new crackers
- Sample the regional dishes

OE. sample, asaumple, OF. essample, example, fr. L. exemplum. See Example, and cf. Ensample, Sampler.

Example; pattern. Obs. Spenser. "A sample to the youngest." Shak.
Thus he concludes, and every hardy knight His sample followed. Fairfax.
A part of anything 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.
Syn. -- Specimen; example. See Specimen.

To make or show something similar to; to match. Bp. Hall.
To take or to test a sample or samples of; as, to sample sugar, teas, wools, cloth.