tests

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of test.

   The lab returned the blood tests within two days.

   Final exams and weekly quizzes are both kinds of tests.

   Note

   One spelling gathers several quite different plurals. Students sit tests, engineers run them on equipment, and cricket followers speak of the Tests, with a capital T, meaning Test matches. Biologists use the word for the hard outer shells of sea urchins and sand dollars. Older still is the assayer's test, a cupel in which gold and silver were refined, so a metallurgist's tests may be hearths rather than trials.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of test.

   The lab tests each water sample for contamination.

   A good coach tests both the strength and the patience of every player.

   Note

   Most uses take a direct object: a coach tests a player, and a lab tests a sample. One construction works differently. As a linking verb it takes an adjective instead of an object, so a patient tests positive or a sample tests clean, meaning the test showed it to be so. The spelling is shared with the plural noun, and only the sentence around it shows which is meant.

   The water sample tests positive for lead.

   If she tests negative, she can return to work.

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