1. [n]  the act of testing something; "in the experimental trials the amount of carbon was measured separately"; "he called each flip of the coin a new trial"
2. [n]  the act of undergoing testing; "he survived the great test of battle"; "candidates must compete in a trial of skill"
3. [n]  any standardized procedure for measuring sensitivity or memory or intelligence or aptitude etc; "the test was standardized on a large sample of students"
4. [n]  a hard outer covering as of some amoebas and sea urchins
5. [n]  an assay conducted for diagnostic purposes
6. [n]  trying something to find out about it; "a sample for ten days free trial"; "a trial of progesterone failed to relieve the pain"
7. [n]  a set of questions or exercises evaluating skill or knowledge; "when the test was stolen the professor had to make a new set of questions"
8. [v]  undergo a test; "She doesn't test well"
9. [v]  examine someone's knowledge of something; "The teacher tests us every week"; "We got quizzed on French irregular verbs"
10. [v]  determine the presence or properties of (a substance)
11. [v]  achieve a certain score or rating on a test; "She tested high on the LSAT and was admitted to all the good law schools"
12. [v]  put to the test, as for its quality, or give experimental use to; "This approach has been tried with good results"; "Test this recipe"
13. [v]  test or examine for the presence of disease or infection; "screen the blood for the HIV virus"
14. [v]  show a certain characteristic when tested; "He tested positive for HIV"

1. \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.
   

2. \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.
   

3. \Test\, n. [L. testis. Cf. {Testament}, {Testify}.]
   A witness. [Obs.]
         Prelates and great lords of England, who were for the
         more surety tests of that deed.          --Ld. Berners.
   

4. \Test\, v. i. [L. testari. See {Testament}.]
   To make a testament, or will. [Obs.]
   

5. \Test\, Testa \Tes"ta\, n.; pl. E. {Tests}, L. {Test[ae]}.
   [L. testa a piece of burned clay, a broken piece of
   earthenware, a shell. See {Test} a cupel.]
   1. (Zo["o]l.) The external hard or firm covering of many
      invertebrate animals.
   Note: 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.
   2. (Bot.) The outer integument of a seed; the episperm, or
      spermoderm.
   

1. The process of exercising a product to identify differences between expected and actual behaviour. Typically testing is bottom-up: unit test, integration test and finally system test. Ideally testing should be done by real users bashing on a prototype long enough to get thoroughly acquainted with it, with careful monitoring and followup of the results.

Test coverage attempts to assess how complete a test has been.

2. The second stage in a generate and test search algorithm.

[Jargon File]