tester

See also: Tester

English

A tester (canopy) above a pulpit

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈtɛstə/
• Rhymes: -ɛstə(r)

Etymology 1

Probably from Old French testre, from Latin testa.

Noun

tester (plural testers)

1. A canopy over a bed.
   • 1603, John Florio, translating Michel de Montaigne, Essays, III.13:

     And I could as hardly spare my gloves as my shirt, or forbeare washing of my hands both in the mornng and rising from the table, or lye in a bed without a testerne and curtaines about it, as of most necessary things.

   • Walpole

     No testers to the bed, and the saddles and portmanteaus heaped on me to keep off the cold.

   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 1, in The China Governess‎^[1]:

     The half-dozen pieces […] were painted white and carved with festoons of flowers, birds and cupids. […]  The bed was the most extravagant piece.  Its graceful cane half tester rose high towards the cornice and was so festooned in carved white wood that the effect was positively insecure, as if the great couch were trimmed with icing sugar.

2. Something that overhangs something else; especially a canopy or soundboard over a pulpit.
   • 1851, Herman Melville, Moby Dick, chapter 11:

     With our shaggy jackets drawn about our shoulders, we now passed the Tomahawk from one to the other, till slowly there grew over us a blue hanging tester of smoke, illuminated by the flame of the new-lit lamp.

Etymology 2

A vacuum tube tester

From test +‎ -er.

Noun

tester (plural testers)

1. A person who administers a test.
2. A device used for testing.
3. (Australia, slang, obsolete) A punishment of 25 lashes (strokes of a whip) across a person′s back.
4. A sample of perfume available in a shop for customers to try before they buy.
5. (cycling) A cyclist who focuses on success in time trials.

Synonyms

• (punishment) Botany Bay dozen

Hyponyms

• software tester

Translations

a person administering a test

• Finnish: testaaja (fi)

• Russian: тестиро́вщик (ru) m (tɛstiróvščik), испыта́тель (ru) m (ispytátelʹ), те́стер (ru) m (tɛ́stɛr)

Etymology 3

For testern, teston, from French teston, from Old French teste (“the head, the head of the king being impressed upon the coin”). See tester (“a covering”), and compare testone, testoon.

Noun

tester (plural testers)

1. An old French silver coin.
2. (Britain, slang, dated) A sixpence.

Synonyms

• (sixpence): teston, tizzy

Anagrams

• Setter, Street, Teters, retest, setter, street

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French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tɛs.te/

Etymology 1

test +‎ -er

Verb

tester

1. to test

Conjugation

Conjugation of tester (see also Appendix:French verbs)

present participle		testant /tɛs.tɑ̃/
past participle		testé /tɛs.te/
infinitive
simple		tester
compound		avoir + past participle
gerund1
simple		testant /tɛs.tɑ̃/
compound		ayant + past participle
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	teste /tɛst/	testes /tɛst/	teste /tɛst/	testons /tɛs.tɔ̃/	testez /tɛs.te/	testent /tɛst/
	imperfect	testais /tɛs.tɛ/	testais /tɛs.tɛ/	testait /tɛs.tɛ/	testions /tɛs.tjɔ̃/	testiez /tɛs.tje/	testaient /tɛs.tɛ/
	past historic2	testai /tɛs.tɛ/	testas /tɛs.ta/	testa /tɛs.ta/	testâmes /tɛs.tam/	testâtes /tɛs.tat/	testèrent /tɛs.tɛʁ/
	future	testerai /tɛs.tə.ʁɛ/	testeras /tɛs.tə.ʁa/	testera /tɛs.tə.ʁa/	testerons /tɛs.tə.ʁɔ̃/	testerez /tɛs.tə.ʁe/	testeront /tɛs.tə.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	testerais /tɛs.tə.ʁɛ/	testerais /tɛs.tə.ʁɛ/	testerait /tɛs.tə.ʁɛ/	testerions /tɛs.tə.ʁjɔ̃/	testeriez /tɛs.tə.ʁje/	testeraient /tɛs.tə.ʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	teste /tɛst/	testes /tɛst/	teste /tɛst/	testions /tɛs.tjɔ̃/	testiez /tɛs.tje/	testent /tɛst/
	imperfect2	testasse /tɛs.tas/	testasses /tɛs.tas/	testât /tɛs.ta/	testassions /tɛs.ta.sjɔ̃/	testassiez /tɛs.ta.sje/	testassent /tɛs.tas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	teste /tɛst/	—	testons /tɛs.tɔ̃/	testez /tɛs.te/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 Only usable with preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, the past historic, past anterior, imperfect subjunctive and pluperfect subjunctive tenses may be found to have been replaced with the indicative present perfect, indicative pluperfect, present subjunctive and past subjunctive tenses respectively (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Etymology 2

From Latin testor.

Verb

tester

1. (law) to write one's will

Further reading

• “tester” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

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Latin

Verb

tester

1. first-person singular present active subjunctive of testor

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Norwegian Bokmål

Noun

tester m

1. indefinite plural of test

Verb

tester

1. present tense of teste

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Swedish

Noun

tester

1. indefinite plural of test