kill the rabbit

Before the days of instant pregnancy tests, a woman's sample was injected into a rabbit. There were several varieties of tests; one allegedly would kill the rabbit if the pregnancy hormone was present in the sample (most accounts indicate the rabbit was killed and dissected either way.)

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kill the rabbit (third-person singular simple present kills the rabbit, present participle killing the rabbit, simple past and past participle killed the rabbit)

1. (dated, slang) To get a positive test result from an old-fashioned pregnancy test.

   "What about her?" "She killed the rabbit."

• the rabbit died