guinea
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guinea pig
Someone or something used as the subject of an experiment. Jane used her husband as a guinea pig to try her new baked chicken recipe. Craig earned a little extra money by signing up to be a guinea pig in some local clinical studies.
serve as a/(one's) guinea pig
To act or function as the object of a test, experiment, or assessment. We'll have a limited release of the product and let this region serve as a guinea pig. If it is received well, we can expand production and distribution to the rest of the country. A: "I have a wild new dish I'd like you to try!" B: "No way! I have no interest in serving as your guinea pig again."
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2015 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
Serve as a guinea pig
Fig. [for someone] to be experimented on; to allow some sort of test to be performed on one. (Alludes to the use of guinea pigs for biological experiments.) Try it on someone else! I don't want to serve as a guinea pig! Jane agreed to serve as a guinea pig. She'll be the one to try out the new flavor of ice cream.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
a guinea pig
COMMON If someone is used as a guinea pig, new ideas, methods, or medical treatments are tested on them. The new technology should allow us to study genetic disease without having to use humans as guinea pigs. This is the first time I've cooked this dish so you are my guinea pigs.
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2012
a ˈguinea pig
a person used in medical or other experiments: Students in fifty schools are to act as guinea pigs for these new teaching methods.A guinea pig is a small animal with short ears and no tail, often kept as a pet or used for laboratory research.
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017