Talk:Test

Found!

Thank you - Gianfranco

No problem, Gianfranco. --maveric149

Yeah, yeah, I know, this is a defintion. But a newish wikipedian made this page by mistake, so I added 1913 Websters def. -- I will translate, wikify and add to the main page later

Test \Test\, n. [OE. test test, or cupel, potsherd, F. t[^e]t,

     from L. testum an earthen vessel; akin to testa a piece of
     burned clay, an earthen pot, a potsherd, perhaps for tersta,
     and akin to torrere to patch, terra earth (cf. Thirst, and
     Terrace), but cf. Zend tasta cup. Cf. Test a shell,
     Testaceous, Tester a covering, a coin, Testy,
     T[^e]te-[`a]-t[^e]te.]
     1. (Metal.) A cupel or cupelling hearth in which precious
        metals are melted for trial and refinement.

  
              Our ingots, tests, and many mo.       --Chaucer.

  
     2. Examination or trial by the cupel; hence, any critical
        examination or decisive trial; as, to put a man's
        assertions to a test. ``Bring me to the test. --Shak.

  
     3. Means of trial; as, absence is a test of love.

  
              Each test every light her muse will bear. --Dryden.

  
     4. That with which anything is compared for proof of its
        genuineness; a touchstone; a standard.

  
              Life, force, and beauty must to all impart, At once
              the source, and end, and test of art. --Pope.

  
     5. Discriminative characteristic; standard of judgment;
        ground of admission or exclusion.

  
              Our test excludes your tribe from benefit. --Dryden.

  
     6. Judgment; distinction; discrimination.

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

  
     7. (Chem.) A reaction employed to recognize or distinguish
        any particular substance or constituent of a compound, as
        the production of some characteristic precipitate; also,
        the reagent employed to produce such reaction; thus, the
        ordinary test for sulphuric acid is the production of a
        white insoluble precipitate of barium sulphate by means of
        some soluble barium salt.

  
     Test act (Eng. Law), an act of the English Parliament
        prescribing a form of oath and declaration against
        transubstantiation, which all officers, civil and
        military, were formerly obliged to take within six months
        after their admission to office. They were obliged also to
        receive the sacrament according to the usage of the Church
        of England. --Blackstone.

  
     Test object (Optics), an object which tests the power or
        quality of a microscope or telescope, by requiring a
        certain degree of excellence in the instrument to
        determine its existence or its peculiar texture or
        markings.

  
     Test paper.
        (a) (Chem.) Paper prepared for use in testing for certain
            substances by being saturated with a reagent which
            changes color in some specific way when acted upon by
            those substances; thus, litmus paper is turned red by
            acids, and blue by alkalies, turmeric paper is turned
            brown by alkalies, etc.
        (b) (Law) An instrument admitted as a standard or
            comparison of handwriting in those jurisdictions in
            which comparison of hands is permitted as a mode of
            proving handwriting.

  
     Test tube. (Chem.)
        (a) A simple tube of thin glass, closed at one end, for
            heating solutions and for performing ordinary
            reactions.
        (b) A graduated tube.

  
     Syn: Criterion; standard; experience; proof; experiment;
          trial.

  
     Usage: Test, Trial. Trial is the wider term; test is a
            searching and decisive trial. It is derived from the
            Latin testa (earthen pot), which term was early
            applied to the fining pot, or crucible, in which
            metals are melted for trial and refinement. Hence the
            peculiar force of the word, as indicating a trial or
            criterion of the most decisive kind.

  
                  I leave him to your gracious acceptance, whose
                  trial shall better publish his commediation.
                                                    --Shak.

  
                  Thy virtue, prince, has stood the test of
                  fortune, Like purest gold, that tortured in the
                  furnace, Comes out more bright, and brings forth
                  all its weight.                   --Addison.