A subsample may be: (a) a portion of the sample obtained by selection or division;
(b) an individual unit of the lot taken as part of the sample; (c) the final unit
of
multistage sampling. The term '
subsample' is used either in the sense of a '
sample of a sample' or as a synonym for '
unit'. In practice, the meaning is usually apparent from the context or is defined.
Source:
PAC, 1990, 62, 1193
(Nomenclature for sampling in analytical chemistry (Recommendations 1990))
on page 1205