GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English

Found 2 definitions

1.       
   Tester , n. [OE. testere a headpiece, helmet, OF. testiere, F. têtière a head covering, fr. OF. teste the head, F. tête, fr. L. testa an earthen pot, the skull. See Test a cupel, and cf. Testière.]
   A headpiece; a helmet. [Obs.]
   1913 Webster
   The shields bright, testers, and trappures.
   Chaucer.
   
   1913 Webster
   A flat canopy, as over a pulpit or tomb.
   Oxf. Gross.
   
   1913 Webster
   A canopy over a bed, supported by the bedposts.
   1913 Webster
   No testers to the bed, and the saddles and portmanteaus heaped on me to keep off the cold.
   Walpole.
   
   1913 Webster
   
         
       

2.       
   Tester, n. [For testern, teston, fr. F. teston, fr. OF. teste the head, the head of the king being impressed upon the coin. See Tester a covering, and cf. Testone, Testoon.] An old French silver coin, originally of the value of about eighteen pence, subsequently reduced to ninepence, and later to sixpence, sterling. Hence, in modern English slang, a sixpence; -- often contracted to tizzy. Called also teston.
   Shak.
   
   1913 Webster