[f. ESSAY v. + -ER.]
1. In various senses of the vb.; = ASSAYER 1, 2, 3.
1611. Cotgr., Credentier, a Princes Taster, Essayer, Cup-bearer.
1663. Blair, Autobiog., iii. (1848), 57. The long-rested land yielded such plentiful harvests that many followed the first essayers.
1870. J. Roskell, in Eng. Mech., 18 March, 647/2. The centre, which the essayer calls the eye.
† 2. One who ‘essays’ a certain form of composition, or attempts to treat a certain subject; in later use = ESSAYIST. Obs.
1664. H. More, Myst. Iniq., 353. As a late Essayer upon the Apocalyps imagines.
1711. Addison, Spect., No. 68, ¶ 2. He [Tully] hath been followed by all the Essayers upon Friendship, that have written since his time.
1711. Dennis, Refl. on Pope’s Essay on Criticism. He was, like this Essayer, a very indifferent poet.
1712. Hughes, Spect., No. 525, ¶ 3. The Essayers in Lampoon and Satyr.
