tool
nounverbcommon in dialogue
- United Kingdom//tuːl//
- United States//tul//
- Scotland//tʉl//
- //tʉːl//
Any physical device meant to ease or do a task.
noun
- 1
Any physical device meant to ease or do a task.
Several prehistoric tools, including a stone ax, were found during the dig.
A screwdriver is a tool that no household should be without.
A stapler is a tool for attaching papers to others.
- 2
Any physical device meant to ease or do a task. Any piece of equipment used in a profession, such as a craftsman's.
the tools of the trade
Rakes, shovels, hoes, and spades are some of the tools of the gardener's trade.
I don't have the right tools to start fiddling around with the engine.
A timing light is a tool that only an automotive mechanic, professional or amateur, would have.
- 3
Anything that aids someone to perform an operation; an instrument; a means.
Idleness is a tool of the devil.
A spreadsheet app and a bookkeeping app are some of the principal tools of a bookkeeper.
What was the need of a man to do that? "One stick at a time;" if Ned could not do that, he was a poor tool. Ah, a poor tool he proved to be.
Not long ago, it was difficult to produce photographs of tiny creatures with every part in focus.[…]A photo processing technique called focus stacking has changed that. Developed as a tool to electronically combine the sharpest bits of multiple digital images, focus stacking is a boon to biologists seeking full focus on a micron scale.
- 4
A piece of software used to develop software or hardware, or to perform low-level operations.
The software engineer had been developing lots of EDA tools.
a tool for recovering deleted files from a disk
- 5
A person or group which is used or controlled, usually unwittingly, by another person or group, a pawn.
She was a tool of the pharmaceutical lobby.
He was a tool of a foreign influence operation.
- 6
A particular skill pertaining to baseball (such as hitting, running, etc.).
a five-tool player
- 7
informalA penis, notably with a sexual or erotic connotation.
Or haue wee some strange Indian with the great Toole, come to Court, the women so besiege vs?
She wanna hang with the goons She wanna party midnight till noon She wanna play with my tool
- 8
slangAn obnoxious or uptight person.
He won't sell us tickets because it's 3:01, and they went off sale at 3. That guy's such a tool.
- 9
slangA handgun.
In my city keep a tool Lil nigga you know the rules
Three waps up and a couple of shanks (Just in case) But I got faith that these tools won't jam
Etymology
From Middle English tool, tol, from Old English tōl (“tool, implement, instrument”, literally “that with which one prepares something”), perhaps borrowed from Old Norse tól, but at any rate ultimately from Proto-Germanic *tōlą (“that which is used in preparation, tool”), from Proto-Indo-European *dewh₂- (“to tie to, secure”), equivalent to taw (“to prepare”) + -le (agent suffix). Cognate with Scots tuil (“tool, implement, instrument, device”), Icelandic tól (“tool”), Faroese tól (“tool, instrument”). Related to Old English tāwian (“to make, prepare, or cultivate”); see taw, and tow ("fibres used for spinning").
verb
- 1
To work on or shape with tools, e.g., hand-tooled leather.
- 2
To equip with tools.
- 3
To work very hard.
Do this lab and read this book, now tool, one and all, And be sure and pass that final quiz or be screwed right to the wall.
- 4
slangTo put down another person (possibly in a subtle, hidden way), and in that way to use him or her to meet a goal.
Dude, he's not your friend. He's just tooling you.
- 5
To intentionally attack the ball so that it deflects off a blocker out of bounds.
- 6
datedTo drive (a coach or other vehicle).
- 7
datedTo carry or convey in a coach or other vehicle.
1850s, Cuthbert M. Bede, The Adventures of Mr. Verdant Green Among those who seemed disposed to join in this opinion was the Jehu of the Warwickshire coach, who expressed his conviction to our hero, that "he wos a young gent as had much himproved hisself since he tooled him up to the Warsity with his guvnor."
- 8
slangTo travel in a vehicle; to ride or drive.
March 8, 1890, Byron P. Stephenson, "My Trip to Brazil", in Illustrated American boys on their bicycles tooling along the well-kept roads
These are the guys that tool around in Mercedes Sprinter vans with equipment lockers stuffed with everything from riot helmets to tasers.
Forms
- plural
- tools
- past tense
- tooled
- past participle
- tooled
- present participle
- tooling
- third person singular
- tools