test

noun

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.”

2. A cupel or cupelling hearth in which precious metals are melted for trial and refinement.
3. An examination, given often during the academic term.
4. 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”

5. A Test match.
6. The external calciferous shell, or endoskeleton, of an echinoderm, e.g. sand dollars and sea urchins; testa.
7. Testa; seed coat.
8. (obsolete)Judgment; distinction; discrimination.

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

9. (obsolete)A 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.”

10. (abbreviation, alt-of, clipping, informal, slang, uncountable)Clipping of testosterone.
11. A Test match.
12. (abbreviation, acronym, alt-of)Acronym of Treadmill Exercise Stress Test.
13. (abbreviation, alt-of, uncountable)Abbreviation of testosterone.

verb

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 soundness of a principle”

   “to test the validity of an argument”

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

4. To 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.”

6. (copulative)To be shown to be by test.

   “He tested positive for cancer.”

   “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.”

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

   “to test a solution by litmus paper”

8. (intransitive, slang, transitive)To challenge (someone) to a fight.

   “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.”

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

9. (obsolete, transitive)To attest (a document) legally, and date it.
10. (intransitive, obsolete)To make a testament, or will.

name

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