Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun One who tests, tries, assays, or proves.
  • noun Any instrument or apparatus used in testing: as, a steam-gage tester; a vacuum-tester.
  • noun A name given to the shillings coined by Henry VIII., and to sixpences later (compare teston); also, in modern slang, a sixpence.
  • noun A canopy.
  • noun Specifically— The frame which connects the tops of the posts in a four-post bedstead, and the material stretched upon it, the whole forming a sort of canopy.
  • noun In architecture, a flat canopy, as over a pulpit or a tomb.
  • noun A head-piece; a helmet.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun An old French silver coin, originally of the value of about eighteen pence, subsequently reduced to ninepence, and later to sixpence, sterling. Hence, in modern English slang, a sixpence; -- often contracted to tizzy. Called also teston.
  • noun obsolete A headpiece; a helmet.
  • noun A flat canopy, as over a pulpit or tomb.
  • noun A canopy over a bed, supported by the bedposts.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A canopy over a bed etc.
  • noun A person who administers a test.
  • noun A device used for testing.
  • noun A sample of perfume available in a shop for customers to try before they buy.
  • noun An old French silver coin.
  • noun UK, slang, dated A sixpence.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun someone who administers a test to determine your qualifications
  • noun a flat canopy (especially one over a four-poster bed)

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Probably from Old French testre, from Latin testa.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From test +‎ -er.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

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.

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Examples

  • This tester is a small 3 prong unit with 2 yellow lights and 1 red light, made by A.W. Sperry.

    How can I find? Where can I get? 2006

  • This tester is a small 3 prong unit with 2 yellow lights and 1 red light, made by A.W. Sperry.

    How can I find? Where can I get? 2006

  • … the word tester refers to the canopy, or roof, that shelters the bed and the alcove.

    Generous Death Nancy Pickard 1987

  • … the word tester refers to the canopy, or roof, that shelters the bed and the alcove.

    Generous Death Nancy Pickard 1987

  • Now, you've shown where MacNeill points out that the generator for biological evolution isn't random (or even random with regard to fitness), and the tester is not limited to natural selection.

    Bunny and a Book 2008

  • The Sperry outlet tester is pretty much the primary tester used NOB.

    How can I find? Where can I get? 2006

  • Maybe we should talk to Cadillac about getting into a long-term tester with a similar theme.

    The People's News Portal - Business, Money, Sport, Music, Forex, Auto 2010

  • I noted in the Edmunds report that my wife's car had experienced many of the same foibles as their long-term tester, including sagging kick panels, several NVH sins and interior panel gaps that were as uneven as rural highway pavement.

    Sam Barer's Four Wheel Drift fourwheeldrift 2010

  • The seven times Tour de France champion was requested, while training in France, to provide urine, blood and hair samples to a tester from the French Anti-Doping Agency (AFLD).

    timesofmalta.com 2009

  • To test this, you can use an inexpensive pig-tail electrical tester, which is available at any hardware store for about two dollars.

    Reuben's Home Inspection Blog - Part 2 2009

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