[syn: examination, testing]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Test \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.
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Our ingots, tests, and many mo. --Chaucer.
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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.
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3. Means of trial; as, absence is a test of love.
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Each test every light her muse will bear. --Dryden.
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4. That with which anything is compared for proof of its
genuineness; a touchstone; a standard.
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Life, force, and beauty must to all impart,
At once the source, and end, and test of art.
--Pope.
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5. Discriminative characteristic; standard of judgment;
ground of admission or exclusion.
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Our test excludes your tribe from benefit. --Dryden.
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6. Judgment; distinction; discrimination.
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Who would excel, when few can make a test
Betwixt indifferent writing and the best? --Dryden.
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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.
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8. A set of questions to be answered or problems to be
solved, used as a means to measure a person's knowledge,
aptitude, skill, intelligence, etc.; in school settings,
synonymous with examination or exam; as, an
intelligence test. Also used attributively; as a test
score, test results.
[PJC]
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.
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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.
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I leave him to your gracious acceptance, whose
trial shall better publish his commediation.
--Shak.
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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.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Examination \Ex*am`i*na"tion\, n. [L. examinatio: cf. F.
examination.]
1. The act of examining, or state of being examined; a
careful search, investigation, or inquiry; scrutiny by
study or experiment.
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2. A process prescribed or assigned for testing
qualification; as, the examination of a student, or of a
candidate for admission to the bar or the ministry.
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He neglected the studies, . . . stood low at the
examinations. --Macaulay.
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Examination in chief, or Direct examination (Law), that
examination which is made of a witness by a party calling
him.
Cross-examination, that made by the opposite party.
Re["e]xamination, or Re-direct examination, (Law) that
questioning of a witness at trial made by the party
calling the witness, after, and upon matters arising out
of, the cross-examination; also called informally
re-direct.
Syn: Search; inquiry; investigation; research; scrutiny;
inquisition; inspection; exploration.
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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
examination
n 1: the act of examining something closely (as for mistakes)
[syn: examination, scrutiny]
2: 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" [syn: examination, exam,
test]
3: formal systematic questioning [syn: interrogation,
examination, interrogatory]
4: a detailed inspection of your conscience (as done daily by
Jesuits) [syn: examen, examination]
5: the act of giving students or candidates a test (as by
questions) to determine what they know or have learned [syn:
examination, testing]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
169 Moby Thesaurus words for "examination":
Pap test, Socratic method, airing, analysis, anatomic diagnosis,
appraisal, article, asking, assessment, assize, audition,
biological diagnosis, biopsy, blue book, bringing into question,
buzz session, canvassing, catechetical method, catechism,
catechization, catechizing, causerie, challenge, change of venue,
checkout, clinical diagnosis, colloquium, conference,
consideration, contemplation, court-martial, cross-examination,
cytodiagnosis, debate, debating, deliberation, descant, diagnosis,
dialectic, dialogue, differential diagnosis, digital examination,
discourse, discussion, dispute, disquisition, dissertation,
electrocardiography, electroencephalography, electromyography,
enquiry, essay, etude, exam, examen, exchange of views, excursus,
exploration, exposition, eyeball inspection, feature, final,
final examination, first approach, forum, going-over, great go,
grilling, hearing, homily, honors, inquest, inquiring, inquiry,
inquisition, inspection, interpellation, interrogation,
introductory study, investigation, joint discussion, jury trial,
laboratory diagnosis, logical analysis, logical discussion,
lucubration, mammography, memoir, midsemester, midterm, mistrial,
monograph, morceau, note, ocular inspection, open discussion,
open forum, oral, oral examination, outline, overhaul, overhauling,
overview, pandect, panel discussion, paper, paragraph,
perlustration, perusal, physical diagnosis, physical examination,
piece, postmortem diagnosis, prelim, preliminary study, probe,
probing, prolegomenon, pumping, quality control, querying,
questioning, quiz, quizzing, rap, rap session, research,
research paper, review, run-through, scan, screed, scrutiny,
search, seeking, seminar, serodiagnosis, sketch, smear,
special article, study, survey, symposium, take-home examination,
term paper, test, testing, the eye, theme, thesis, third degree,
town meeting, tract, tractate, treatise, treatment, trial,
trial by jury, tripos, urinalysis, uroscopy, ventilation, vetting,
visitation, visual examination, viva, work-up, written,
written examination
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):
EXAMINATION, crim. law. By the common law no one is bound to accuse himself.
Nemo tenetur prodere seipsum. In England, by the statutes of Philip and
Mary, (1 & 2 P. & M. c. 13; 2 & 3 P. & M. c. 10,) the principles of which
have been adopted in several of the United States, the justices before whom
any person shall be brought, charged with any of the crimes therein
mentioned, shall take the examination of the prisoner, as well is that of
the witnesses, in writing, which the magistrates shall subscribe, and
deliver to the officer of the court where the trial is to be had. The
signature of the prisoner, when not specially required by statute, is not
indispensable, though it is proper to obtain it, when it can be obtained. 1
Chit. Cr. Law, 87; 2 Leach, Cr. Cas. 625.
2. It will be proper to consider, 1. The requisites of such
examination. 2. How it is to be proved. 3. Its effects.
3.-1. It is required that it should, 1st. Be voluntarily made,
without any compulsion of any kind; and, 2d. It must be reduced to writing.
1st. The law is particularly solicitous to let the prisoner be free in
making declarations in his examination; and if the prisoner has not been
left entirely free, or did not consider himself to be so, or if he did not
feel at liberty wholly to decline any explanation or declaration whatever,
the examination is not considered voluntary, and the writing cannot be read
in evidence against him, nor can parol evidence be received of what the
prisoner said on the occasion. 5 C. & P. 812; 7 C. & P. 177; 1 Stark. R.
242; 6 Penn. Law Journ. 120. The prisoner, of course, cannot be sworn, and
make his statement under oath. Bull. N. P. 242; 4 Hawk. P. C. book 2, c. 46,
Sec. 37; 4 C. & P. 564. 2a. The statute requires that the examination shall
be reduced to writing, or so much as may be material, and the law presumes
the magistrate did his duty and took down all that was material. Joy on
Conf. 89-92; 1 Greenl. Ev. Sec. 227. The prisoner need not sign the
examination so reduced to writing, to give it validity; but, if being asked
to sign it, he absolutely refuse, it will be considered incomplete. 2 Stark.
R. 483; 2 Leach, Cr. Cas. 627, n.
4.-2. The certificate of the magistrate is conclusive evidence of the
manner in which the examination was conducted. 7 C. & P. 177; 9 C. & P. 124;
1 Stark. R. 242. Before it can be given in evidence, its identity must be
proved, as well as the identity of the prisoner. When the prisoner has
signed the examination, proof of his handwriting is sufficient evidence that
he has read it; but if he has merely made his mark, or not signed it at all,
the magistrate or clerk must identify the prisoner, and prove that the
writing was duly read to him, and that he assented to it. l Greenl. Ev. Sec.
520; 1 M. & Rob. 395.
5.-3. The effect of such an examination, when properly taken and
proved, is sufficient to found a conviction. 1 Greenl. Ev. Sec. 216.
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):
EXAMINATION, practice. The interrogation of a witness, in order to ascertain
his knowledge as to the facts in dispute between parties. When the
examination is made by the party who called the witness, it is called an
examination in chief. When it is made by the other party, it is known by the
name of cross-examination. (q.v.)
2. The examination is to be made in open court, when practicable; but
when,: on account of age, sickness, or other cause, the witness cannot be so
examined, then it may be made before authorized commissioners. In the
examination in chief the counsel cannot ask leading questions, except in
particular cases. Vide Cross-examination; Leading question.
3. The laws of the several states require the private examination of a
feme covert before a competent officer, in order to pass her title to her
own real estate or the interest she has in that of her husband: as to the
mode in which this is to be done, see Acknowledgment. See, also, 3 Call, R.
394; 5 Mason's R. 59; 1 Hill, R. 110; 4 Leigh, R. 498; 2 Gill & John. 1; 3
Rand. R. 468 1 Monr. R. 49; 3 Monr. R. 397; 1 Edw. R. 572; 3 Yerg. R. 548 1
Yerg. R. 413 3 J. J. Marsh. R. 241 2 A. K. Marsh. R. 67; 6 Wend. R. 9; 1
Dall. 11, 17; 3 Yeates, R. 471; 8 S. & R. 299; 4 S. & R. 273.