tool

[tool] /tul/
noun
1.
an implement, especially one held in the hand, as a hammer, saw, or file, for performing or facilitating mechanical operations.
2.
any instrument of manual operation.
3.
the cutting or machining part of a lathe, planer, drill, or similar machine.
4.
the machine itself; a machine tool.
5.
anything used as a means of accomplishing a task or purpose:
Education is a tool for success.
6.
a person manipulated by another for the latter's own ends; cat's-paw.
7.
the design or ornament impressed upon the cover of a book.
8.
Underworld Slang.
  1. a pistol or gun.
  2. a pickpocket.
9.
Slang: Vulgar. penis.
verb (used with object)
10.
to work or shape with a tool.
11.
to work decoratively with a hand tool.
12.
to ornament (the cover of a book) with a bookbinder's tool.
13.
to drive (a vehicle):
He tooled the car along the treacherous path.
14.
to equip with tools or machinery.
verb (used without object)
15.
to work with a tool.
16.
to drive or ride in a vehicle:
tooling along the freeway.
Verb phrases
17.
tool up, to install machinery designed for performing a particular job:
manufacturers tooling up for production.
Origin
before 900; Middle English (noun); Old English tōl; cognate with Old Norse tōl tools; akin to taw2
Related forms
tooler, noun
toolless, adjective
multitool, noun
untooled, adjective
Synonyms
1. T ool , implement , instrument , utensil refer to contrivances for doing work. A tool is a contrivance held in and worked by the hand, for assisting the work of (especially) mechanics or laborers: a carpenter's tools. An implement is any tool or contrivance designed or used for a particular purpose: agricultural implements. An instrument is anything used in doing a certain work or producing a certain result, especially such as requires delicacy, accuracy, or precision: surgical or musical instruments. A utensil is especially an article for domestic use: kitchen utensils. When used figuratively of human agency, tool is generally used in a contemptuous sense; instrument , in a neutral or good sense: a tool of unscrupulous men; an instrument of Providence.
Examples from the web for tools
  • Our tools froze until the hands that gripped them were scarred as if by red-hot spits.
  • Except for weapons, ornaments, tools and suchlike personal possessions there was a sort of patriarchal communism in the tribe.
  • But the answer is that with few tools and many tasks to do much fudging is in fact necessary.
  • Sin has many tools, but a lie is the handle which fits them all.
  • The bullock carried their personal belongings and the tools with which they could repair a break.
  • Physicians attend to the business of physicians, and workmen handle the tools of workmen.
  • They work in their garden or at some handicraft or art, or they study, being furnished with proper tools and with books.
  • They are neat husbands for ordering all their tools pertaining to house and field.
  • Research suggests the so-called brutes fashioned tools, buried their dead, maybe cared for the sick and even conversed.
  • The entire structure would have been built with bronze tools.
British Dictionary definitions for tools

tool

/tuːl/
noun
1.
  1. an implement, such as a hammer, saw, or spade, that is used by hand
  2. a power-driven instrument; machine tool
  3. (in combination): a toolkit
2.
the cutting part of such an instrument
3.
  1. any of the instruments used by a bookbinder to impress a design on a book cover
  2. a design so impressed
4.
anything used as a means of performing an operation or achieving an end: he used his boss's absence as a tool for gaining influence
5.
a person used to perform dishonourable or unpleasant tasks for another
6.
a necessary medium for or adjunct to one's profession: numbers are the tools of the mathematician's trade
7.
(slang) another word for penis
8.
(Brit) an underworld slang word for gun
verb
9.
to work, cut, shape, or form (something) with a tool or tools
10.
(transitive) to decorate (a book cover) with a bookbinder's tool
11.
(transitive) often foll by up. to furnish with tools
12.
when intr, often foll by along. to drive (a vehicle) or (of a vehicle) to be driven, esp in a leisurely or casual style
Derived Forms
tooler, noun
tool-less, adjective
Word Origin
Old English tōl; related to Old Norse tōl weapon, Old English tawian to prepare; see taw²
Word Origin and History for tools

tool

n.

Old English tol "instrument, implement," from Proto-Germanic *tolan (cf. Old Norse tol), from a verb stem represented by Old English tawian "prepare." The ending is the instrumental suffix -l (e.g. shovel). Figurative sense of "person used by another for his own ends" is recorded from 1660s. Slang meaning "penis" first recorded 1550s.

v.

"to drive a vehicle," 1812, probably from tool (n.). The meaning "to work or shape with a tool" is recorded from 1815; that of "equip (a factory) with machine tools" is from 1927. Related: Tooled; tooling.

Slang definitions & phrases for tools

tools

Related Terms

fightin' tools


tool

noun
  1. The penis (1553+)
  2. A pickpocket (1920+ Underworld)
  3. (also dull tool) An incompetent person; also, someone who can be duped or victimized easily (1700+)
  4. A diligent student; Greasy Grind, nerd: Nerds can also be ''goobs'' or ''tools'' (Students)
verb
  1. To do the sex act with or to; boff, bop, screw: Hit the man in the ass with a board while he was tooling your old lady (1980s+)
  2. (also tool along) To speed; barrel: I climbed into the Buick and tooled it down the ramp (1853+)

[underworld sense perhaps fr the practice of using a small boy as a sort of tool in pickpocketing, or perhaps fr Romany tool, ''handle, take''; second verb sense fr earlier tool, ''a whip'']


tools in Technology


Technology of Object-Oriented Languages and Systems