tester

noun

1. A canopy over a bed.

   “And I could as hardly spare my gloves as my shirt, or forbeare washing of my hands both in the mornng and rising from the table, or lye in a bed without a testerne and curtaines about it, as of most necessary things.”

   “The half-dozen pieces […] were painted white and carved with festoons of flowers, birds and cupids. […] The bed was the most extravagant piece. Its graceful cane half tester rose high towards the cornice and was so festooned in carved white wood that the effect was positively insecure, as if the great couch were trimmed with icing sugar.”

2. Something that overhangs something else; especially a canopy or soundboard over a pulpit.

   “With our shaggy jackets drawn about our shoulders, we now passed the Tomahawk from one to the other, till slowly there grew over us a blue hanging tester of smoke, illuminated by the flame of the new-lit lamp.”

3. A person who administers a test.
4. A device used for testing.
5. (Australia, obsolete, slang)A punishment of 25 lashes (strokes of a whip) across a person′s back.
6. A sample of perfume available in a shop for customers to try before they buy.
7. A miniature pot of paint for testing and comparison purposes.
8. A cyclist who focuses on success in time trials.
9. An old French silver coin.
10. (British, dated, slang)A sixpence.

    “When after their beaſtly ſport and pleaſure Mounſieur Libid[inoſo] heat of luſt was ſomewhat aſſwaged, and ready to goe, féeling his pocket for a venereall remuneration [i.e., a copper coin] finds nothing but a Teſter, or at leaſt ſo little, that it was not ſufficient to pleaſe dame Pleaſure for her hire. [...] My Ladie would not beléeue Monſ. Libid. a great while, but ſearched and féeled for more coine, [...]”

11. (alt-of, alternative)Alternative form of testiere (“armor for a horse's head”).

    “A horse-head tester had cutouts for the animal's eyes and ears. A peytral protected the horse's breast, while the crinet, made of overlapping steel plates joined by leather straps or rivets, protected its neck.”

    “The tester and crupper, together with the piser, which probably protected the chest, formed the basis of most horse armour[…]”

name

1. A surname from Old French.

   “But only if one forgets that Mr. Tester is 50 years old, he’s seasoned in state politics, he ran a canny, gloves-off campaign, and he’s the kind of charismatic, hard-to-peg, Western neopopulist (like his friend, Gov. Brian Schweitzer of Montana) who might be, even now, redefining in certain far-reaching ways what it means to be a Democrat.”