See Also: test tube(medicine)
test tube(dictionary)
test-tube(dictionary)
germ tube test(medicine)
test-tube baby(dictionary)
test-tube baby(medicine)
Breathing Tube (endotracheal tube)(health)
Head Upright Tilt Test (HUT, tilt table test, head-up tilt test)(health)
T tube(medicine)
inner tube(dictionary)

test-tube (iou)



test-tube noun. M19.
[from TEST noun1 + TUBE noun.]
A cylindrical container of thin transparent glass, closed at one end, used in scientific laboratories etc. to hold small amounts of liquid.
Attrib. & comb.: Designating procedures and operations, esp. fertilization, carried out artificially or under laboratory conditions, and the results of such operations, as test-tube bull, test-tube pregnancy, etc.; test-tube baby (a) (now rare) a baby conceived by artificial insemination; (b) a baby that has developed from an ovum fertilized outside the mother's body; test-tube cultivation, test-tube culture the raising of bacteria in a nutrient medium contained in a test-tube.