test-drive (the noun)

[Jonathan Lighter]

Me too.

I test-drove the alternatives to this bite-size question.

JL

On Sun, Mar 6, 2011 at 1:07 PM, Victor Steinbok <aardvark66 at gmail.com>wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Victor Steinbok <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: test-drive (the noun)
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> FWIW I read it as the latter as well, i.e. test==probe.
>
>     VS-)
>
> On 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"?
> >
> > GAT
>
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