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tool

noun
/tuːl//tul/US

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").

  1. derived from *dewh₂-✻ — “to tie to, secure”
  2. derived from *tōlą✻ — “that which is used in preparation, tool”
  3. derived from tól
  4. inherited from tōl — “tool, implement, instrument”
  5. inherited from tool

Definitions

  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. Anything that aids someone to perform an operation

    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.

  3. A piece of software used to develop software or hardware, or to perform low-level…

    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
  4. ›+ 13 more definitions

    1. A person or group which is used or controlled, usually unwittingly, by another person or…

      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.

    2. A particular skill pertaining to baseball (such as hitting, running, etc.).

      • a five-tool player

    3. A 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

    4. 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.

    5. A 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

    6. To work on or shape with tools, e.g., hand-tooled leather.

    7. To equip with tools.

    8. 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.

    9. To put down another person (possibly in a subtle, hidden way), and in that way to use him…

      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.

    10. To intentionally attack the ball so that it deflects off a blocker out of bounds.

    11. To drive (a coach or other vehicle).

    12. To carry or convey in a coach or other vehicle.

    13. To travel in a vehicle

      To 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.

The neighborhood

Derived

claw tool, course authoring tool, criminal tool, crimping tool, deburring tool, down tools, dry-tool, edge tool, entrenching tool, E-tool, fine adjustment tool, five-tool, five tool player, five-tool player, go back to the tools, grafting tool, Halligan tool, hand tool, hive tool, hooligan tool, Hurst tool, Jacot tool, K-tool, love tool, macaroni tool, machine tool, metatool, meta-tool, microtool, mindtool, multitool, multi-tool, nanotool, not the sharpest tool in the box, not the sharpest tool in the shed, oscillating tool, rape tool, retool, set tool, sex tool · +73 more

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at tool. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01tool02meant03mean04convey05carry06lifting07appearance08seen09saw

A definitional loop anchored at tool. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

9 hops · closes at tool

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA