test-drive (the noun)

Joel S. Berson Berson at ATT.NET
Sun Mar 6 03:55:08 UTC 2011


At 3/5/2011 08:42 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>Merely "put to the test," "try":
>
>2011
>http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home/article/112206/why-most-self-help-books-stink

I'm sure Jon doesn't mean to imply this extended sense is new to the
21st century; I'm sure I've heard it before 2011.  But I was
curious.  OED (1989) has a definition (under "test n.1") only as a
*verb*, only the specific sense for a motor vehicle, and only from
1954.  And no quotations under other headwords for the noun.

I didn't find anything earlier for the verb.  But the noun is
interesting, and old.  In chronological order.

(0)   1899 for the extended (non-vehicle) sense:

Just after noon the status of the short interest was such as to make
possible a test drive against the bears in the grangers and Goulds.

[Article titled "Rather a Bull Day / Aggressive Operations against
the Bears in Reading"; operations on the financial stock market, not
the range, where the bears roam.  :-)  I'll leave to the curious what
"grangers" are (it's in the OED, and from earlier than 1899.]

The North American [Philadelphia], Friday, September 23, 1892; pg. 3;
col 1   19th-Century U.S. Newspapers.

(1)  1901 for the vehicle sense:

A candidate and examiner about to start from Scotland Yard for a test
drive in the police gig.  From a Photo. by George Newman, Limited.

[Caption to photograph showing an open one-horse carriage, two men in
it, presumably cabman being tested behind the reins and examiner in
the passenger seat.  Article titled "How Cab, 'Bus, and Tram-Car
Drivers are Tested in England and America."]

Strand Magazine [London], Vol. 22,  No. 130, October 1901, page
374.  GBooks Full view.

[This issue contains Chapter 5, "Three Broken Threads", of "The Hound
of the Baskervilles", by Conan Doyle.]

(2)   1907 for the motor vehicle sense:

Talking about the Rolls-Royce reminds me that, with reference to the
discussion on the respective merits of the four-cylinder and
six-cylinder, which is to take place on February 7, Mr. Claude
Johnson, of the Rolls-Royce Co., 1 5, Conduit Street, asks me to say
that any of our readers who would like to be taken for a test drive
in a six-cylinder Roll-Royce should communicate with him.

The Bystander[London], Vol. 13, No. 165, January 30, 1907, page 256,
col. 1.  GBooks Full view.

(3)  1908 for the extended sense, as an attributive:

Test Drive Wells, Long Island.

[Title of abstract of article "California Stove-Pipe Wells on Long
Island".  Sentence in abstract:  "Describes wells ... driven for the
purpose of determining whether the ground water supply there
available is of sufficient quantity and of proper quality to warrant
its development as a source of additional water supply for New York City."]

The Engineering Digest, Vol. 3, No. 4, April 1908, page 472.  GBooks Full view.

(4)  1909 for the motor vehicle sense:

At the latter place it was necessary to wait four hours for driving
licenses, the usual test drive being required.

[Article titled "Expenses of an American's Trip in Europe".]

The Automobile, Vol. 21, No. 18, October 28, 1909, page 743, col.
1.  GBooks Full view.

(5)  1912 for a somewhat extended sense -- driving but not of motor cars:

In  the fall of 1907, twelve thousand ties were purchased from small
operators who delivered them on the banks of the Rio Grande near the
town of Espanola above White Rock Canyon, and a test drive to the
boom was made, demonstrating that no difficulty would be encountered
in driving the main river.

[Article titled "Log Driving in the Desert".]

Technical World Magazine, Vol. 18, No. 3, November 1912, page 314,
col. 2.  GBooks Full view.

(6)  1917 for the extended sense:

Test-Drive in Orange, N.J., Follows Campaign Plan and Exceeds Quota [headline]
      To prove out the merits of the Service Flat idea in connection
with a membership campaign before presenting it to the public as a
whole, a test campaign was tried out in Orange, N.J. ... The progress
and results of this advance test were studied closely by the Natinal
Committee in charge of the nation-wide drive ...
      The membership test drive in Orange exceeded the expectations
of even the most optimistic. ...
      The outcome of the test drive at Orange ...demonstrated to the
National Red Cross Membership Drive Committee that ...

The Red Cross Bulletin, Vol. 1, No. 33, December 17, 1917, page 2,
col. 2.  GBooks Full view.

(7)  1917 for the extended sense, as an attributive:

This latter material is a very fine grained and densely compacted
material that resists, like rock, the penetration of a test drive
rod, but when exposed to the action of running water, immediately washes away.

Professional Memoirs / Corps of Engineers, United States Army and
Engineer Department at Large, Vol. 9, Number 45, May-June 1917, page
266.  GBooks Full view.

Joel

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