Tool

Pronunciation

• IPA: /tuːl/
• Rhymes: -uːl
• Homophones: tulle

Origin

From Middle English tool, from Old English tōl ("tool, implement, instrument", literally that with which one prepares something), from Proto-Germanic *tōlą ("tool"), from Proto-Indo-European *dewǝ- ("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").

Full definition of tool

Noun

1. (mechanical device intended to make a task easier)A mechanical device intended to make a task easier.
   Hand me that tool, would you?   I don't have the right tools to start fiddling around with the engine.
2. Equipment used in a profession, e.g., tools of the trade.
• 2012-03, w, Pixels or Perish, Drawings and pictures are more than mere ornaments in scientific discourse. Blackboard sketches, geological maps, diagrams of molecular structure, astronomical photographs, MRI images, the many varieties of statistical charts and graphs: These pictorial devices are indispensable tools for presenting evidence, for explaining a theory, for telling a story.
3. These are the tools of the trade.
4. Something to perform an operation; an instrument; a means.
• 2013, Catherine Clabby, Focus on Everything, 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.
5. (computing) 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
6. A person or group which is used or controlled, usually unwittingly, by another person or group.
   He was a tool, no more than a pawn to her.
7. (slang) Penis.
8. (by extension, slang, pejorative) An 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.

Synonyms

Derived terms

• toolbar
• toolbox
• toolchain
• tool chest
• tooling
• toolkit
• toolless
• toollike
• toolmaker
• toolset

Verb

1. (transitive) To work on or shape with tools, e.g., hand-tooled leather.
2. (transitive) To equip with tools.
3. (transitive) To work very hard.
4. (transitive, slang) To 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. (transitive, volleyball) To intentionally attack the ball so that it deflects off a blocker out of bounds.
6. (transitive, UK, slang, dated) To drive (a coach, etc.)

Synonyms

• (volleyball) use

Derived terms

• tool around

Anagrams

• loot
• LOTO