TEST, noun [Latin testa, an earthen pot.]

1. In metallurgy, a large cupel, or a vessel in the nature of a cupel, formed of wood ashes and finely powdered brick dust, in which metals are melted for trial and refinement.

2. Trial; examination by the cupel; hence, any critical trial and examination.

Thy virtue, prince, has stood the test of fortune.

Like purest gold--

3. Means of trial.

Each test and every light her muse will bear.

4. That with which any thing is compared for proof of its genuineness; a standard.

--Life, force and beauty must of all impart,

At once the source, the end and test of art.

5. Discriminative characteristic; standard.

Our test excludes your tribe from benefit.

6. Judgment; distinction.

Who would excel, when few can make a test

Betwixt indifferent writing and the best?

7. In chimistry, a substance employed to detect any unknown constituent of a compound, by causing it to exhibit some known property. Thus ammonia is a test of copper, because it strikes a blue color with that metal, by which a minute quantity of it can be discovered when in combination with other substances.

TEST, noun [Latin testis, a witness, properly one that affirms.]

In England, an oath and declaration against transubstantiation, which all officers, civil and military, are obliged to take within six months after their admission. They were formerly obliged also to receive the sacrament, according to the usage of the church of England. These requisitions are made by Stat. 25 Charles II. which is called the test act. The test of 7 Jac.1. was removed in 1753.

TEST, verb transitive To compare with a standard; to try; to prove the truth or genuineness of any thing by experiment or by some fixed principle or standard; as, to test the soundness of a principle; to test the validity of an argument.

The true way of testing its character, is to suppose it [the system] will be persevered in.

Experience is the surest standard by which to test the real tendency of the existing constitution.

To test this position--

In order to test the correctness of this system--

This expedient has been already tested.

1. To attest and date; as a writing tested on such a day.

2. In metallurgy, to refine gold or silver by means of lead, in a test by the destruction, vitrification or scarification of all extraneous matter.