[L. testa a tile, earthen pot, shard, shell, etc.: see TEST sb.2]

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  1.  Bot. The skin or coating of a seed.

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1796.  De Serra, in Phil. Trans., LXXXVI. 500. (Fruct. of Algæ), Their very viscous albumen answers … all the purposes the testa accomplishes in other eggs.

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1807.  J. E. Smith, Phys. Bot., 294. Testa, the Skin, contains all the parts of a seed above described.

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1877.  Huxley & Martin, Elem. Biol., 86. Carefully peel off the outer coat (testa) of the seed.

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  † 2.  Zool. The shell of certain invertebrates: = TEST sb.2 2 a. Obs. rare.

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1847.  in Webster.

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