benchmark

• POS: Noun, Verb (transitive)
• HYPHEN: bench=mark

CIDE DICTIONARY

benchmark,  

•  Any permanent mark to which other levels may be referred.  [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
•  something serving as a standard by which related items may be judged; as, his painting sets the benchmark of quality.  [PJC]
•  a test or series of tests designed to compare the qualities or performance of different devices of the same type. Certain sets of computer programs are much used as benchmarks for comparing the performance of different computers, especially by comparing the time it takes to complete a test.  [PJC]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

benchmark, n. & v.
--n.
1 a surveyor's mark cut in a wall, pillar, building, etc., used as a reference point in measuring altitudes.
2 a standard or point of reference.
3 a means of testing a computer, usu. by a set of programs run on a series of different machines.
--v.tr. evaluate (a computer) by a benchmark.

Idiom

benchmark test a test using a benchmark.