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. —
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.
Test, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Tested; p. pr. & vb. n. Testing.] 1. (Metal.)
To refine, as gold or silver, in a test, or cupel; to subject to
cupellation.
2. To put to the proof; to prove the truth, genuineness, or quality of
by experiment, or by some principle or standard; to try; as, to test
the soundness of a principle; to test the validity of an argument.
Experience is the surest standard by which to test the real tendency of
the existing constitution.
Washington.
3. (Chem.) To examine or try, as by the use of some reagent; as, to
test a solution by litmus paper.
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