Definition of "essay"

In his first book since the 2008 essay collection Natural Acts: A Sidelong View of Science and Nature, David Quammen looks at the natural world from yet another angle: the search for the next human pandemic, what epidemiologists call “the next big one.”

2013 January, Katie L. Burke, “Ecological Dependency”, in American Scientist‎, volume 101, number 1, archived from the original on 9 February 2017, page 64

My first essay at getting employment was fruitless; but after no small number of mortifying rebuffs from various parties to whom I applied for assistance, I was at last rewarded by a comparative success.

1861, E. J. Guerin, Mountain Charley, page 16

This was Lee's first essay in the kind of offensive-defensive strategy that was to become his hallmark.

1988, James McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, Oxford, published 2003, page 455

He retraced his steps to the front gate, which he essayed to open.

1900, Charles W. Chesnutt, chapter II, in The House Behind the Cedars

The train took the slow to branch spur at the north end at a not much slower speed, then essayed the short sharply curved climb with a terrific roar, smoke rising straight from the chimney to a height of some 60 ft., the long train twisting and curling behind.

1950 April, R. A. H. Weight, “They Passed by My Window”, in Railway Magazine, page 260