Proof  

From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia

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1. Any effort, process, or operation designed to establish or discover a fact or truth; an act of testing; a test; a trial.
   • Edmund Spenser,

     For whatsoever mother wit or art Could work, he put in proof.

   • Ford,

     You shall have many proofs to show your skill.

   • Ure,

     Formerly, a very rude mode of ascertaining the strength of spirits was practiced, called the proof.

2. That degree of evidence which convinces the mind of any truth or fact, and produces belief; a test by facts or arguments that induce, or tend to induce, certainty of the judgment; conclusive evidence; demonstration.
   • William Shakespeare,

     I'll have some proof.

   • Ralph Waldo Emerson,

     It is no proof of a man's understanding to be able to confirm whatever he pleases.

   • 1990 October 28, Paul Simon, “Proof”, The Rhythm of the Saints, Warner Bros.

     Faith, faith is an island in the setting sun / But proof, proof is the bottom line for everyone

3. The quality or state of having been proved or tried; firmness or hardness that resists impression, or does not yield to force; impenetrability of physical bodies.
4. Firmness of mind; stability not to be shaken.
5. A proof sheet; a trial impression, as from type, taken for correction or examination.
6. A process for testing the accuracy of an operation performed. Compare Prove, transitive verb, 5.
7. Armor of excellent or tried quality, and deemed impenetrable; properly, armor of proof.
8. Template:US A measure of the alcohol content of liquor. Originally in Britain 100 proof was defined as 57,1% by volume (not used anymore). In the US 100 proof means that the alcohol content is 50% of the total volume of the liquid and thus absolute alcohol would be 200 proof.