Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Sample

Sample , noun

[Old English sample, asaumple, Old French essample, example, from Latin exemplum. See Example, and compare Ensample, Sampler.]

1.
Example; pattern. [Obsolete] — Shakespeare
A sample to the youngest. — Spenser
Thus he concludes, and every hardy knight His sample followed. — Fairfax
2.
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

Sample , transitive verb

1.
To make or show something similar to; to match. — Bp. Hall
2.
To take or to test a sample or samples of; as, to sample sugar, teas, wools, cloths.