Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition

Testa

{

Test

, ‖

Tes′ta

, }
Noun.
;
pl. E.
Tests
(#)
, L.
Testae
(#)
.
[L.
testa
a piece of burned clay, a broken piece of earthenware, a shell. See
Test
a cupel.]
1.
(Zool.)
The external hard or firm covering of many invertebrate animals.
☞ The test of crustaceans and insects is composed largely of chitin; in mollusks it is composed chiefly of calcium carbonate, and is called the shell.
2.
(Bot.)
The outer integument of a seed; the episperm, or spermoderm.

Definition 2024

testa

testa

See also: testá and tèsta

English

Noun

testa ‎(plural testas or testae or testæ)

  1. (botany) A seed coat.
    The testa develops from the tissue, the integument, originally surrounding the ovule.
    • 1840, James Scott Bowerbank, A History of the Fossil Fruits and Seeds of the London Clay, page 30,
      The seeds are furnished with a reticulated testa, very much in appearance like that of the seeds of two closely-allied pericarps in the cabinet of my friend Mr. Ward, of Wellclose-square, the names of which I have been unable to obtain, but which present strong evidence of belonging to the Malvaceæ.
    • 1969, C. W. Bennett, Seed Transmission of Plant Viruses, Alison Smith, Advances in Virus Research, Volume 14, page 224,
      In tests with the Lincoln and Virginia varieties of cowpea, Crowley (1959) found that, in plants infected with bean southern mosaic virus before blossoming, the virus was present in nearly 100% of the testae and endosperms of seeds of both varieties, but could not be detected in the embryos.
    • 1977, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, Australian Journal of Plant Physiology, page 354,
      Thus, two conditions must be satisfied for the testas to have this effect: contact between the testas and the radicle, and the presence of at least half of the testas.
    • 2005, D. W. Dickson, D. De Waele, Nematode Parasites of Peanut, Michel Luc, Richard A. Sikora, John Bridge, Plant Parasitic Nematodes in Subtropical and Tropical Agriculture, page 419,
      A.[Aphelenchoides] arachidis is a parasite of pods, testae, roots and hypocotyls, but not the cotyledons, embryos or other parts of the plant (Bos, 1977a; Bridge et al., 1977).
    • 2007, J. Smartt, Evolution of American Phaseolus beans under domestication, Peter John Ucko, G. W. Dimbleby (editors), The Domestication and Exploitation of Plants and Animals, page 458,
      One of the most remarkable features of cultivated beans is the enormous range of testa colours and patterns which can be found.
  2. (marine biology) The external calciferous shell, or endoskeleton, of an echinoderm; the test.

Anagrams

French

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /tɛs.ta/

Verb

testa

  1. third-person singular past historic of tester

Anagrams

Italian

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [ˈtɛsta]

Etymology

From Latin testa.

Noun

testa f ‎(plural teste)

  1. head
  2. (anatomy) head (of a bone)

Synonyms

  • (part of the body): capo

Related terms

Verb

testa

  1. third-person singular present indicative of testare
  2. second-person singular imperative of testare

Anagrams

Latin

Etymology

  • Cognate with texō ‎(“to weave”).[1]
  • Alternatively the same as tosta.[2]

Pronunciation

  • (Classical) IPA(key): /ˈtes.ta/, [ˈtɛs.ta]

Noun

testa f ‎(genitive testae); first declension

  1. a piece of burned clay; brick, tile; earthen pot; potsherd
  2. (figuratively) a shellfish; shell; a piece of bone, skull

Inflection

First declension.

Case Singular Plural
nominative testa testae
genitive testae testārum
dative testae testīs
accusative testam testās
ablative testā testīs
vocative testa testae

Derived terms

Related terms

Descendants

References

  1. ↑ Partridge, Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English
  2. ↑ testa in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press

Latvian

Noun

testa m

  1. genitive singular form of tests

Norwegian Bokmål

Alternative forms

Verb

testa

  1. simple past of teste
  2. past participle of teste

Old Provençal

Etymology

From Latin testa.

Noun

testa f ‎(oblique plural testas, nominative singular testa, nominative plural testas)

  1. head

Portuguese

testa

Etymology

From Old Portuguese testa, from Latin testa.

Pronunciation

  • (Portugal) IPA(key): /ˈtɛʃ.tɐ/
  • Hyphenation: tes‧ta

Noun

testa f (plural testas)

  1. forehead

Romansch

Etymology

From Latin testa ‎(“pot”).

Noun

testa f (plural testas)

  1. (Rumantsch Grischun, Sursilvan, Surmiran, Puter, Vallader) head

Usage notes

In Rumantsch Grischun, the literary standard language, testa is used in the figurative sense, and chau in the anatomical sense. Usage differs somewhat, however, between dialects.

Synonyms

Sicilian

Etymology

From Latin testa ‎(“brick”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /t̪ʲɛs(ʃ)ta/
  • Hyphenation: te‧sta

Noun

testa f (plural testi)

  1. (anatomy) head
  2. intelligent person
  3. intelligence

Spanish

Etymology 1

From Latin testa.

Noun

testa f ‎(plural testas)

  1. head
  2. test (shell or endoskeleton of an echinoderm)

Etymology 2

Inflected form of testar.

Verb

testa

  1. Informal second-person singular (tú) affirmative imperative form of testar.
  2. Formal second-person singular (usted) present indicative form of testar.
  3. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted?) present indicative form of testar.
Derived terms

Swedish

Pronunciation

Verb

testa ‎(present testar, preterite testade, supine testat, imperative testa)

  1. try, attempt; to see if a specific action is possible; also to see if a device works properly.

Conjugation

Etymology

Borrowing from Latin testa.

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