test-drive (the attributive) -- not

[Joel S. Berson]

My two attributive appearances of "test-drive" are the first spurious
and the second dubious.  But I now note the absence of "drive well"
(where "well" is not an adverb) from the OED.

At 3/6/2011 10:32 AM, George Thompson wrote:
>Joel writes:
>"(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."
>
>Is this to be read as "test-drive rod" or "test drive-rod"?

Well, it has no hyphens at all in the original.  :-)  But I too had
some uncertainty on this one, and decided to let the experts
decide.  A bit more context, from earlier on the page:

"Design in General. ... A survey of conditions preceded the design
and construction of the various sections. When the overburden did not
exceed 10 feet in depth the test driving to rock was done by hand,
using a blunt pointed steel rod, 1 inch in diameter. ... Test holes
were spaced from 10 feet to 20 feet apart along the line of the
proposed dam. While these tests gave a good general indication of the
rock elevation, it was found that in some cases the hand driving did
not pierce the overlying hardpan ... "

A reasonable supposition is that this is "test drive-rod", although
the noun phrase "drive rod" appears nowhere else in this book.

Upon further investigation, I withdraw the 1908 "Test Drive Wells" --
it is "test drive-wells".

"The drive well is a system of procuring water in places where the
earth or soil is of a sandy nature, and where the bored or the dug
well would hardly be practicable.  This is the most simple type of
well, as it s simply a tube or pipe driven down into the sand or
earth to a point a little below water level, and any kind of pump may
be used for this purpose."

_Lawler's American sanitary plumbing. A practical work on the best
methods of modern plumbing, illustrating, with original sketches, the
fundamental principles of everything the plumber should know_, James
Joseph Lawler - 1896.  Page 71.  GBooks Full
view.
http://books.google.com/books?id=cX8AAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA74&dq=%22drive+well%22&hl=en&ei=0LVzTbLXGMXXgQe9wtT0Dw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6&ved=0CEMQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=%22drive%20well%22&f=false

Michigan seems to have a lot of "drive wells" to support its dairy industry.

My only excuse is that "drive well" is not in the OED!  :-)

Joel

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