test

plural tests

1. A challenge, trial.

   Numerous experimental tests and other observations have been offered in favor of animal mind reading, and although many scientists are skeptical, others assert that humans are not the only species capable of representing what others do and don’t perceive and know.

   2012 March-April, Colin Allen, “Do I See What You See?”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, archived from the original on 26 Apr 2012, page 168

   1. academiaAn examination, given often during the academic term.

      Synonyms: examination

   2. A session in which a product, piece of equipment, or system is examined under everyday or extreme conditions to evaluate its durability, etc.

      It's Christmas at ground zero / The button has been pressed / The radio / Just let us know / That this is not a test

      1986, "Weird Al" Yankovic, “Christmas at Ground Zero”, in Polka Party!

   3. psychometricshuman sciencesA standardised measure, consisting of one or more items.

      Test Theory

      1 more example

      aptitude test

   4. ball gamesA Test match.
2. marine biologyThe external calciferous shell, or endoskeleton, of an echinoderm, e.g. sand dollars and sea urchins; testa.
3. A cupel or cupelling hearth in which precious metals are melted for trial and refinement.
4. biologyTesta; seed coat.
5. obsoleteJudgment; distinction; discrimination.

   Who would excel, when few can make a test / Betwixt indifferent writing and the best?

   1675, John Dryden, Aureng-zebe: A Tragedy. […], London: […] T[homas] N[ewcomb] for Henry Herringman, […], published 1676, →OCLC, (please specify the page number)

present singular third person tests · participle present testing · participle past tested · past tested · first person past singular tested · archaic present second person singular testest · past second person singular tested · archaic past second person singular testedst · present singular third person tests · archaic present singular third person testeth · past singular third person tested · past plural tested · past subjunctive tested · participle present testing · participle past tested

1. To challenge, to put a strain on (something).

   Climbing the mountain tested our stamina.

2. To refine (gold, silver, etc.) in a test or cupel; to subject to cupellation.
3. To put to the proof; to prove the truth, genuineness, or quality of by experiment, or by some principle or standard; to try.

   to test the validity of an argument

   2 more examples

   to test the soundness of a principle

   September 17, 1796, George Washington, Farewell Address Experience is the surest standard by which to test the real tendency of the existing constitution.

4. academicsTo administer or assign an examination, often given during the academic term, to (somebody).
5. To place a product or piece of equipment under everyday and/or extreme conditions and examine it for its durability, etc.

   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.

   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

6. copulativeTo be shown to be by test.

   He tested positive for cancer.

   1 more example

   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.

   2015, Leta Stetter Hollingworth, Harry Levi Hollingworth, Children Above 180 IQ Stanford-Binet: Origin and Development

7. chemistryTo examine or try, as by the use of some reagent.

   to test a solution by litmus paper

8. intransitiveslangtransitiveTo challenge (someone) to a fight.

   I'm feelin' special, I might fly her out to LA, yeah / I got my weapon, it turn violent if you test me, yeah

   2023 November 6, “Guapi” (1:44 from the start)performed by YoungBoy Never Broke Again

   1 more example

   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.

   2018, U-God [Lamont Hawkins], Raw: My Journey Into the Wu-Tang, New York, N.Y.: Picador, →ISBN, page 31

plural tests

1. obsoleteA witness.

   1523-1525, John Bourchier, 2nd Baron Berners, Froissart's Chronicles Prelates and great lords of England, who were for the more surety tests of that deed.

present singular third person tests · participle present testing · participle past tested · past tested

1. obsoletetransitiveTo attest (a document) legally, and date it.
2. intransitiveobsoleteTo make a testament, or will.

1. abbreviationclippinginformalslanguncountablebodybuildingClipping of testosterone.

plural Tests · alternative test

1. ball gamesA Test match.

1. A river in Hampshire, England, which empties into the Solent near Southampton.

plural TESTs

1. abbreviationacronymAcronym of Treadmill Exercise Stress Test.

1. abbreviationuncountableAbbreviation of testosterone.