[f. TEST sb.1
(Before 1800 chiefly in pa. pple.; the simple vb. was considered by Southey as an Americanism.)]
1. trans. To subject (gold or silver) to a process of separation and refining in a test or cupel; to assay.
1603. [see Tested below].
[1661: ? implied in TESTER4.]
1828. Webster, Test, v., 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.
1871. [see Tested below].
1872. Raymond, Statist. Mines & Mining, 120. The ore tested yielded $25 per ton. Ibid., 335. These lodes have not been tested by the repeated and continuous milling of the ore raised from them.
1873. Symonds, Grk. Poets, iii. 89. You may test gold and silver, but there are no means of getting at the thoughts of men.
2. To subject to a test of any kind; to try, put to the proof; to ascertain the existence, genuineness, or quality of.
1748. [see Tested below].
1760–72. H. Brooke, Fool of Qual. (1809), I. 48. You have been sufficiently tested.
1796. Washington, Farewell Address (Webster, 1828), ¶ 18. Experience is the surest standard by which to test the real tendency of the existing constitution of a country.
1815. T. Jefferson, Writ. (1830), IV. 260. Materials which test the truth it contains.
1820. Blackw. Mag., Sept., 591/1. They have not the means of testing the statements.
1834–43. Southey, Doctor, cxlv. (1862), 397. But I will test (as an American would say …) I will test Mr. Campbell’s assertion.
1837. J. H. Newman, Proph. Office Ch., 324. The Church is bound ever to test and verify her doctrine.
1838. Gladstone, State in Rel. Ch. (1839), 186. This theory however has not been tested experimentally.
1888. Miss Braddon, Fatal Three, I. v. I have tested the water in all the wells.
† 3. To require or compel to fulfil the conditions of the Test Act as a necessary qualification for holding a public office. Obs.
1687. Reason of Toleration, 36. There is no reason they should be so cruelly Tested for Doctrines that are but either obscurely reveal’d, or not necessarily enjoyn’d.
[1687, 1689: see TESTING vbl. sb.2, Tested below.
1697: see TESTER4.]
4. Chem. To subject to a chemical test.
1839. Ure, Dict. Arts, 71. (Assay) The testing of the normal liquor … is … less tedious than might be supposed.
1842. Parnell, Chem. Anal. (1845), 35. Oxide of silver is most conveniently applied, in liquid testing, in the form of nitrate of silver.
1846. G. E. Day, trans. Simon’s Anim. Chem., II. 135. The urine … must be tested with litmus paper.
1864. in Webster.
Hence Tested ppl. a. (in senses 1 and 2); in quot. 1689, having taken the test-oaths.
1603. Shaks., Meas. for M., II. ii. 149. Not with fond Sickles of the tested-gold, Or Stones, whose rate are either rich, or poore.
1689. Lett., in N. Brit. Daily Mail, 27 Dec. (1894). If we have a Convention chosen by our present tested magistrates we may expect little good from their hands.
1748. Richardson, Clarissa (1811), III. xxxi. 187. She cannot break through a well-tested modesty.
1871. Tennyson, Last Tourn., 284. I … heard it ring as true as tested gold.
