sample

Meanings

Noun

• A part or snippet of something taken or presented for inspection, or shown as evidence of the quality of the whole; a specimen.
• A subset of a population selected for measurement, observation or questioning, to provide statistical information about the population.
• A small quantity of food for tasting, typically given away for free.
• A small piece of some goods, for determining quality, colour, etc., typically given away for free.
• Gratuitous borrowing of easily recognised phases (or moments) from other music (or movies) in a recording.
• Example; pattern.

Verb

• To take or to test a sample or samples of.
• To reduce a continuous signal (such as a sound wave) to a discrete signal.
• To reuse a portion of (an existing sound recording) in a new piece of music.
• To make or show something similar to a sample.

Related

Similar words

• specimen
• example

Narrower meaning words

• product sample

Origin

• From Middle English saumple, sample, from Old French essample ("example"), from Latin exemplum. example, and exemplum.