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testa

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

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See also: Testa, testá, tèsta, tésta, and těsta

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin testa.

Pronunciation

Noun

testa (plural testas or testae or testæ)

  1. (botany) A seed coat.
    The testa develops from the tissue, the integument, originally surrounding the ovule.
    • 1840, James Scott Bowerbank, A History of the Fossil Fruits and Seeds of the London Clay, page 30:
      The seeds are furnished with a reticulated testa, very much in appearance like that of the seeds of two closely-allied pericarps in the cabinet of my friend Mr. Ward, of Wellclose-square, the names of which I have been unable to obtain, but which present strong evidence of belonging to the Malvaceæ.
    • 1969, C. W. Bennett, Seed Transmission of Plant Viruses, Alison Smith, Advances in Virus Research, Volume 14, page 224,
      In tests with the Lincoln and Virginia varieties of cowpea, Crowley (1959) found that, in plants infected with bean southern mosaic virus before blossoming, the virus was present in nearly 100% of the testae and endosperms of seeds of both varieties, but could not be detected in the embryos.
    • 1977, Commonwealth Scientific, Industrial Research Organization, Australian Journal of Plant Physiology, page 354:
      Thus, two conditions must be satisfied for the testas to have this effect: contact between the testas and the radicle, and the presence of at least half of the testas.
    • 2005, D. W. Dickson, D. De Waele, Nematode Parasites of Peanut, Michel Luc, Richard A. Sikora, John Bridge, Plant Parasitic Nematodes in Subtropical and Tropical Agriculture, page 419,
      A.[Aphelenchoides] arachidis is a parasite of pods, testae, roots and hypocotyls, but not the cotyledons, embryos or other parts of the plant (Bos, 1977a; Bridge et al., 1977).
    • 2007, J. Smartt, “Evolution of American Phaseolus beans under domestication”, in Peter John Ucko, G. W. Dimbleby, editors, The Domestication and Exploitation of Plants and Animals, page 458:
      One of the most remarkable features of cultivated beans is the enormous range of testa colours and patterns which can be found.
  2. (marine biology) The external calciferous shell, or endoskeleton, of an echinoderm; the test.

Anagrams

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Catalan

Etymology 1

Inherited from Latin testa (“burned clay; baked earthenware”).

Pronunciation

Noun

testa f (plural testes)

  1. (Empordanese) head
    Synonym: cap
  2. end (of a post, plank, barrel, etc.)
  3. (botany) testa (the outer layer of a seed coat)
Derived terms

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

Adjective

testa

  1. feminine singular of test (“tense”)

Etymology 3

Pronunciation

Verb

testa

  1. inflection of testar (“to test”):
    1. third-person singular present indicative
    2. second-person singular imperative

Etymology 4

Pronunciation

Verb

testa

  1. inflection of testar (“to witness”):
    1. third-person singular present indicative
    2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

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Franco-Provençal

Noun

testa (Old Beaujolais, Piemontais)

  1. alternative form of téta (“head”)

References

  • testa in Lo trèsor Arpitan – on arpitan.eu

French

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /tɛs.ta/
  • Audio (France (Lyon)):(file)

Verb

testa

  1. third-person singular past historic of tester

Anagrams

Galician

Etymology 1

From Old Galician-Portuguese testa (13th century, Cantigas de Santa Maria), from Latin testa (“earthen pot”).

Pronunciation

Noun

testa f (plural testas)

  1. forehead
    • 1390, José Luís Pensado Tomé (ed.), Os Miragres de Santiago. Versión gallega del Códice latino del siglo XII atribuido al papa Calisto I. Madrid: C.S.I.C., page 133:
      Et avia ẽno rrostro hũu palmo et meo en longo et ẽna barua hũu palmo, et ẽno nariz hũu meo palmo; et ẽna testa hũu palmo et pouquo mais
      He had a palmspan and a half in his face, and in the beard a palmspan, and half one in the nose; and in the front he had one palmspan and a little more
    • 1434, A. López Carreira (ed.), Libro de Notas de Álvaro Afonso, doc. 90:
      os quaes roçiins era huun delles ven preto con hun signal enna testa et ho outro ben çerbyño con huna mancha enna testa
      one of that horses was really dark, with a signal in his forehead, and the other was tawny with a spot in his forehead
    Synonym: fronte
  2. (figurative) the whole head of a person
    • 1697, several authors, Fiestas Minervales, Santiago: Antonio Frayz, page 34:
      Dubido do que farei / Para saír desta enfeita / Maxino roer as uñas / E bourar mui ben na testa
      I'm dubious on what to do / To exit of this preparation / I imagine gnawing my nails / And ably beating my head
    Synonyms: cabeza, cachola, croca
  3. limit of a property
    Synonyms: derrego, estremeiro, límite, lindeiro
  4. fore
    Synonym: fronte
  5. lid
    Synonym: tello
Derived terms

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Pronunciation

Adjective

testa f sg

  1. feminine singular of testo

Etymology 3

Verb

testa

  1. inflection of testar:
    1. third-person singular present indicative
    2. second-person singular imperative

References

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