test out

English

Verb

test out (third-person singular simple present tests out, present participle testing out, simple past and past participle tested out)

1. (transitive) To try or experiment with (something or someone) in order to see if it works, is true, or is successful.
   • 2000, Robert S. U. Heathcote, Successful ICT Projects in FrontPage 2000, page 143:

     You will also have to test out any HTML code or Java applets that you include, and you will have to test the whole site once it is published to a server.

   • 2003, Lloyd King, Test Your Creative Thinking, page 5:

     Being an amateur artist, it suddenly occurred to her that, if artists can simply paint over their mistakes on canvas to hide them, why couldn't typists do the same? To test out her idea, she put some tempera water-base paint of the same colour as the paper she used in a bottle and took it to work.

   • 2003, Aaron T. Beck, Arthur Freeman, Denise D. Davis, Cognitive Therapy of Personality Disorders:

     At the same time, she was able to test out her belief that she would “go crazy” and get out of control if she allowed herself to experience strong emotions.

   • 2008, Sir Matthew of Denver, The Flying Jj Ranch, page 228:

     Ray tells her, “Yes, ma'am, now we just need to test it out to make sure it works."

   • 2013, Benji Rabhan, Failure Is Obsolete:

     For example, car manufacturers use computer simulators to test out risky new ideas in a low-risk environment.

   • 2021 September 8, Phil McNulty, “Poland 1-1 England”, in BBC Sport‎^[1]:

     Poland tested England out with their intensity and physical commitment but Southgate's side stood strong while also having to deal with a crowd of 56,212 made up entirely of home support.

2. (transitive) To explore (something one has little experience with), especially to do so in a safe environment.
   • 2005, JoAnn Bortles, How To Paint Your Motorcycle, page 91:

     But to really help the beginning painter get used to truly seeing the actual patterns, tape masking paper to the side of the paint booth and test out spray gun patterns on there.

   • 2010, Martina Mueller, Helen Kennerley, Freda McManus, Oxford Guide to Surviving as a CBT Therapist, page 25:

     For example, the above patient might be able to test out his fears in sessions because he is thinking 'It's a hospital, there will be doctors to save me if I do have a heart attack'; but he may be unable to do the same thing elsewhere because of the lack of such reassuring facilities.

   • 2010, Geo Takach, Will the Real Alberta Please Stand Up?, page 126:

     They're definitely the kinds of characters who don't want to be limited by anything and so they will test out the most difficult and the most unusual opportunities. And sometimes they will test out things that they shouldn't test out.

   • 2011, Barbara E. Hendricks, Designing for Play, page 12:

     The advantage of playing is that you can test out actions and emotions that would be too dangerous to act out in real life.

   • 2016, Paul Carr, Bad Way Out:

     It's good for only a few miles, and the signal wouldn't reach us if they get in the air, but it has a new feature I need to test out.

3. (transitive) To explore how (someone) responds to something; To feel someone out.
   • 1977, Cinema Canada - Issues 34-47, page 1977-11:

     However, Famous Players responded negatively when Borsos tested them out about showing the film.

   • 1995, T. Robin Chapman, Encounters with Wales, page 60:

     And whenever I meet anyone I test them out about how they feel.

   • 2000, Edie Claire, Never Preach Past Noon:

     She had tested him out about his boot camp buddies, and she had almost decided he wasn't the man in Bess's photograph after all.

4. (intransitive) To demonstrate a certain result in a test, especially a successful result.
   • 1904, Ohio society of professional engineers, Proceedings of the Twenty-Fifth and Twenty-Sixth Annual Meetings of the Ohio Engineering Society, page 91:

     How does it test out in comparison with the cement?

   • 1970, United States. National Commission on Product Safety, Hearings - Volume 4, page 282:

     If a ladder is used there are ladders that are used and we have tested them, and we have found that these ladders test out, so that they could carry a weight load of 1600 pounds.

   • 1984, United States. Dept. of Defense, Internal Control Course: Course overview, page 75:

     If our controls test out OK , then we are able to say: " I am confident that the control system is working."

   • 1996, Laurie M. Aesoph, How to Eat Away Arthritis:

     If you do smoke, drink alcohol, or take a drug, it will invariably provoke a reaction and test out as allergenic.

5. (intransitive) To pass a placement test that enables one to avoid taking a course.
   • 2006, Michael J. Bosse, Jennifer Vickers Rotigel, Encouraging Your Child's Math Talent, page 68:

     Children who test out of classroom lessons and activities should not be asked to do more mathematical problems of the same type “just for practice.”

   • 2018, Susan Wise Bauer, Rethinking School: How to Take Charge of Your Child's Education:

     I would suggest first asking to test out of the grade level in order to subject accelerate.

   • 2021, Susan G. Assouline, Ann Lupkowski-Shoplik, Developing Math Talent:

     The positive outcome of the meeting was that in the spring semester of fifth grade, Charlie would be allowed to test out of the sixth-grade curriculum and the prealgebra content and, if he obtained an 80% on each test, he would be placed into algebra at the beginning of sixth grade.

Noun

test out (countable and uncountable, plural test outs)

1. A trial; an experiment to see how or whether something works; the act of testing something out.
   • 1910, United States. Congress. House. Committee on Naval Affairs, Hearings on the Proposed Reorganization of the Navy Department Before the Committee on Naval Affairs of the House of Representatives, page 232:

     I suppose the master electrician who performs that work on board ship, or the leading man, his representative on board, sees that done, and the final test outs show whether it is properly done or not.

   • 1972, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Labor and Public Welfare, Hearings, page 556:

     We think a test out can be made for about $ 100,000, bearing in mind the test out is only to tool up and that most of the continuing services after the first year would be picked up out of better spent medicaid money.

   • 1999, United States, United States. Congress. House. Committee on Government Reform and Oversight. Subcommittee on National Economic Growth, Natural Resources, and Regulatory Affairs, The Kyoto Protocol, page 975:

     To get the production prototype into the marketplace will require, obviously, test outs for durability, for reliabilit , for safety, et cetera, in low-volume pilot programs for revolutionary new technologies.

2. A placement test that allows someone to skip a course.
   • 2010, Linda Anne Silvestri, Saunders Comprehensive Review for the NCLEX-RN® Examination, page 22:

     After I basked in the glory of getting through countless tests, skills test outs, and the stress, it was time to study and tackle the NCLEX exam.

   • 2013, Teresa Lambert, Outlined Teresa’s Story: Her Return, page 259:

     Burt talked non-stop he informed Teresa “everyone showed up for your two final class test outs and your personal test day.

   • 2014, Scott Mendelsberg, College Now! What Needs to be Done to Give Urban Students a Real Path to Success, page 141:

     One other thing that we have done that has had a tremendous influence on our kids is offering a college test out option known as CLEP.