witness

English translation: to be a witness of

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
English term or phrase:witness
Selected answer:to be a witness of
Entered by: Dennis Seine

16:22 Apr 26, 2008
English language (monolingual) [PRO]
Tech/Engineering - Engineering: Industrial / industrial testing
English term or phrase: witness
Hello everyone,

I have bumped into a pretty awkward term. Witness: here is it a verb or a substantive?

Sentence:

"Source Inspection and Test Witness Requirements:
[The Company] and/or its customer may elect to inspect parts, and/or witness subassemblies at the
Supplier’s facility during processing, production, testing, or at final inspection."

How would you interpret the meaning of "witness" in this case??

Help is much appreciated!!
Maria San Martin
Local time: 09:10
both
Explanation:
In the header, 'witness' is a substantive. Rewriting the header will clarify this:

"Requirements for Source Inspection and Test Witness"

In the sentence below, 'witness' is used as a verb, meaning 'to be a witness of'.
Selected response from:

Dennis Seine
United States
Local time: 04:10
Grading comment
Selected automatically based on peer agreement.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED
4 +6both
Dennis Seine
3"the witnessing" and "to witness"
Jack Dunwell


  

Answers


25 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +6
both


Explanation:
In the header, 'witness' is a substantive. Rewriting the header will clarify this:

"Requirements for Source Inspection and Test Witness"

In the sentence below, 'witness' is used as a verb, meaning 'to be a witness of'.

Dennis Seine
United States
Local time: 04:10
Native speaker of: Native in DutchDutch
PRO pts in category: 4
Grading comment
Selected automatically based on peer agreement.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Jack Doughty
15 mins
  -> Thanks Jack, much appreciated!

agree  Jennifer Levey: Spot on.
31 mins
  -> Thanks a lot!

agree  Victoria Porter-Burns:
4 hrs
  -> Thanks a lot!

agree  Phong Le
7 hrs
  -> Thanks a lot!

agree  P Waters
1 day 15 hrs
  -> Thanks Lily!

agree  V_Nedkov
2 days 20 hrs
  -> Thanks a lot!
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
"the witnessing" and "to witness"


Explanation:
"witnessing the test" rather than
"the witness of the test"

I suppose you purists will now tell me exactly why I am wrong to use a noun that doesn't appear in the OED!!
Well, OK, I don't mind an education!

Jack Dunwell
France
Local time: 09:10
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
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