acid test
- a severe and conclusive test to establish quality, genuineness, worth, etc.
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Origin of acid test
First recorded in 1890–95
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for acid test
Historical Examples
They are the acid-test, by which the presence of empire may be determined.
The American EmpireScott Nearing
acid test
- a rigorous and conclusive test to establish worth or valuethe play passed the critic's acid test
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Word Origin
C19: from the testing of gold with nitric acid
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Idioms and Phrases with acid test
acid test
A decisive trial to determine worth or quality, as in Exposure to brilliant sunlight is the acid test for showing this fabric won't fade. Alluding to a 19th-century chemical test for distinguishing gold from other metals, this term was used figuratively by the early 1900s.
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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.