test tube

noun

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

Origin of test tube

First recorded in 1840–50

Words Nearby test tube

Other definitions for test-tube (2 of 2)

test-tube

[ test-toob, -tyoob ]

adjective

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

Origin of test-tube

First recorded in 1885–90

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use test tube in a sentence

Eggs made in a test tube couldn’t develop naturally outside the ovary.
Scientists Bred Healthy Mice Using Artificial Eggs and Ovaries Made From Stem Cells | Shelly Fan | July 27, 2021 | Singularity Hub
This is the “gold standard” of making sperm or eggs inside a test tube, said Yang and Ng.
Scientists Bred Healthy Mice Using Artificial Eggs and Ovaries Made From Stem Cells | Shelly Fan | July 27, 2021 | Singularity Hub
You could, in theory, have a huge DNA library stored in a test tube—Bathe notes a coffee mug of DNA could store all the world’s data—but without an easy way to search and retrieve the exact file you’re looking for, it’s worthless.
Each of These Microscopic Glass Beads Stores an Image Encoded on a Strand of DNA | Jason Dorrier | June 20, 2021 | Singularity Hub
In a test tube, ACE2 opened pig cells to SARS-CoV-2 like a welcome friend.
Beware Of Humans | Maggie Koerth (maggie.koerth-baker@fivethirtyeight.com) | April 26, 2021 | FiveThirtyEight
Those test tube studies are the source of most recent headlines about variants getting around protection conferred by vaccines.
The CDC’s $1.75 billion sequencing boom may be throwing money at the wrong problem | Cat Ferguson | April 5, 2021 | MIT Technology Review

It is a mega-leap from the agar and test-tube finding to real patients and their delicate lungs.
Big Tobacco, Not MRSA, Is the Real Problem With E-Cigarettes | Kent Sepkowitz | May 20, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
Scientists hope the five-ounce patty, made from 100 percent test-tube meat, heralds the future of food production.
The $330,000 Fake Burger | Nico Hines | August 5, 2013 | THE DAILY BEAST
Participants would spit in a test tube before the start of the match, immediately after, and the next morning.
What in My Brain Makes Me So Loyal to My Hopeless Sports Team? | Kevin Fixler | June 17, 2013 | THE DAILY BEAST
Should the vapor not condense well, the test-tube may be immersed in a glass of cold water.
A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis | James Campbell Todd
For comparison, the gas may be passed through a test-tube containing an equal amount of distilled water.
A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis | James Campbell Todd
The animal body is not a test-tube and, in it, the laws of physics are modified by those of physiology.
The Treatment of Hay Fever | George Frederick Laidlaw
If sulphur is put into a test tube and heated, it at first melts and becomes quite thin like water.
The Science of Human Nature | William Henry Pyle
To a little of this filtrate in a test tube add the same volume of a saturated aqueous solution of picric acid.
Detection of the Common Food Adulterants | Edwin M. Bruce

British Dictionary definitions for test tube

test tube

noun

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

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for test tube

test tube

[ tĕst ]

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.

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