test tube

¹

noun

1. a hollow cylinder of thin glass with one end closed, used in chemical and biological experimentation and analysis.

test-tube

²

[ test-toob, -tyoob ]

adjective

1. produced in or as if in a test tube; synthetic or experimental.

test tube

noun

1. a cylindrical round-bottomed glass tube open at one end: used in scientific experiments
2. modifier made synthetically in, or as if in, a test tube

   a test-tube product

test tube

/ tĕst /

1. A cylindrical tube of clear glass, usually open at one end and rounded at the other, used as a container for small amounts of a substance in laboratory tests and experiments.

Word History and Origins

Origin of test tube¹

First recorded in 1840–50

Origin of test tube²

First recorded in 1885–90

Example Sentences

Still, it’s worth emphasizing that almost everything about the political panic over cultivated meat—its colorful characterization as “slop,” the fears that it poses a threat to rural cattle ranchers, the conspiracizing over some alleged worldwide plot to replace Real American Meat diets with glorified test-tube mixtures—not only misrepresents and misunderstands the true nature of lab meat but, even more wretchedly, inflates a non-problem into time-wasting furor.

From Slate

At the time, they were called test-tube babies.

From Los Angeles Times

In test-tube experiments using saliva from individuals infected with the Delta or Omicron variants, the virus particles attached themselves to the ACE2 "receptors" in the chewing gum and the viral load fell to undetectable levels, researchers reported in Biomaterials.

From Reuters

Later, after it had all fallen apart, after Todd had starred as a prep quarterback for two Orange County high schools, had gone on to USC and starred there for a year before finding drugs, rebelling and opting out of college for the pros, Sports Illustrated wrote that he had been “the first-ever, test-tube athlete,” that he had been “bred to be a superstar,” and that “all Marv wanted to do was to mold athletes, and Todd was his favorite piece of clay.”

From Los Angeles Times

Ten years ago this week, Jennifer Doudna and her colleagues published the results of a test-tube experiment on bacterial genes.

From New York Times