Assessment \As*sess"ment\, n. [LL. assessamentum.]

1. The act of assessing; the act of determining an amount to be paid; as, an assessment of damages, or of taxes; an assessment of the members of a club.

2. A valuation of property or profits of business, for the purpose of taxation; such valuation and an adjudging of the proper sum to be levied on the property; as, an assessment of property or an assessment on property.

Note: An assessment is a valuation made by authorized persons according to their discretion, as opposed to a sum certain or determined by law. It is a valuation of the property of those who are to pay the tax, for the purpose of fixing the proportion which each man shall pay. --Blackstone. Burrill.

3. The specific sum levied or assessed.

4. An apportionment of a subscription for stock into successive installments; also, one of these installments (in England termed a ``call''). [U. S.]

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)