test
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /tɛst/
ipa: [tʰɛst]
ipa: [tʰest]
rhymes: -ɛst
Forms: form: tests
form: testing
form: tested
form: tested
form: no-table-tags
form: glossary
form: test
form: test
form: tested
form: test
form: testest
form: tested
form: testedst
form: tests
form: testeth
form: tested
form: test
form: tested
form: test
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form: -
form: testing
form: tested
Etymology: From Middle English test, teste, from Old French test, teste (“an earthen vessel, especially a pot in which metals were tried”), from Latin testum (“the lid of an earthen vessel, an earthen vessel, an earthen pot”), from *terstus, past participle of the root *tersa (“dry land”). See terra, thirst. The examination sense came via metaphor of the metallurgical sense - the way a metallurgist puts to the test their gold, a teacher may put to the test their students' knowledge.
Senses: examples: text: Climbing the mountain tested our stamina.
glosses: To challenge, to put a strain on (something).
glosses: To refine (gold, silver, etc.) in a test or cupel; to subject to cupellation.
examples: text: to test the soundness of a principle
text: to test the validity of an argument
text: September 17, 1796, George Washington, Farewell Address
Experience is the surest standard by which to test the real tendency of the existing constitution.
glosses: To put to the proof; to prove the truth, genuineness, or quality of by experiment, or by some principle or standard; to try.
qualifier: academics
glosses: To administer or assign an examination, often given during the academic term, to (somebody).
examples: text: Similar studies of rats have employed four different intracranial resorbable, slow sustained release systems–[…]. Such a slow-release device containing angiogenic factors could be placed on the pia mater covering the cerebral cortex and tested in persons with senile dementia in long term studies.
ref: 2013 May-June, Charles T. Ambrose, “Alzheimer’s Disease”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, archived from the original on 24 Apr 2013, page 200:
glosses: To place a product or piece of equipment under everyday and/or extreme conditions and examine it for its durability, etc.
examples: text: He tested positive for cancer.
text: It is probable that children who test above 180 IQ are actually present in our juvenile population in greater frequency than at the rate of one in a million.
ref: 2015, Leta Stetter Hollingworth, Harry Levi Hollingworth, Children Above 180 IQ Stanford-Binet: Origin and Development:
glosses: To be shown to be by test.
examples: text: to test a solution by litmus paper
topics: chemistry
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
glosses: To examine or try, as by the use of some reagent.
examples: text: Back then, you couldn't rock any type of jewelry just like that, because someone was going to test you or rob you. If you were wearing a chain, you had to be someone who was known for shooting or cutting or knocking dudes the fuck out. And someone who didn’t know you may still try and test, so you couldn't really rely on your rep to save you every time.
ref: 2018, U-God [Lamont Hawkins], Raw: My Journey Into the Wu-Tang, New York, N.Y.: Picador, →ISBN, page 31:
text: I'm feelin' special, I might fly her out to LA, yeah / I got my weapon, it turn violent if you test me, yeah
ref: 2023 November 6, “Guapi” (1:44 from the start)performed by YoungBoy Never Broke Again:
glosses: To challenge (someone) to a fight.
Derived terms: field-test
testing 1-2-3
test out
test someone's patience
test the water
test the waters
tried and tested
undertest