TEST, n. [L. 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. Cyc.
2. Trial; examination by the cupel; hence, any critical trial and examination. Thy virtue, prince, has stood the test of fortune / Like purest gold. Addison.
3. Means of trial. Each test and every light her muse will bear. Dryden.
4. That with which any thing is compared for proof of its genuineness; a standard. Life, force and beauty must to all impart, / At once the source, the end and test of art. Pope.
5. Discriminative characteristic; standard. Our test excludes your tribe from benefit. Dryden.
6. Judgment; distinction. Who would excel, when few can make a test / Betwixt indifferent writing and the best? Dryden.
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. D. Olmsted.

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. I. was removed in 1753. Blackstone.

1. 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. Edin. Review. Experience is the surest standard by which to test the real tendency of the existing constitution. Washington's Address. To test this position. Hamilton, Rep. In order to test the correctness of this system. Adams' Lect. This expedient has been already tested. Walsh, Rec.
2. To attest and date; as, a writing tested on such a day.
3. In metallurgy, to refine gold or silver by means of lead, in a test, by the destruction, vitrification or scorification of all extraneous matter.

1. A cupel or cupelling hearth in which precious metals are melted for trial and refinement.
   
   

   Our ingots, tests, and many mo. Chaucer.

2. To refine, as gold or silver, in a test, or cupel] to subject to cupellation.
3. A witness.
   
   
   [Obs.]

   Prelates and great lords of England, who were for the more surety tests of that deed. Ld. Berners.

4. To make a testament, or will.
   
   
   [Obs.]
5. The external hard or firm covering of many invertebrate animals.
   
   

   * The test of crustaceans and insects is composed largely of chitin; in mollusks it is composed chiefly of calcium carbonate, and is called the shell.

6. 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.
7. 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.

8. The outer integument of a seed; the episperm, or spermoderm.
9. Means of trial; as, absence is a test of love.
   
   

   Each test every light her muse will bear. Dryden.

10. To examine or try, as by the use of some reagent; as, to test a solution by litmus paper.
    
    

11. 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.

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

    Our test excludes your tribe from benefit. Dryden.

13. Judgment; distinction; discrimination.
    
    

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

14. 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.