gimlet

Meaning

Noun

1. A small screw-tipped tool for boring holes.
2. A cocktail, usually made with gin and lime juice.

Verb

1. To pierce or bore holes (as if using a gimlet).
2. To turn round (an anchor) as if turning a gimlet.

Synonyms

auger

awl

drill

borer

wimble

bit

screw auger

needle

perforator

trephine

hand drill

boring tool

perforative

hand auger

handheld drill

hand boring

wood drill

drillshank

carpenter’s gimlet

solid center eyed anger

carpenter’s auger

woodworking drill

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈɡɪm.lət/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: gimlet

In summary

From Middle English gimlet etc., from Old French guinbelet, guimbelet, guibelet, probably a diminutive of the Anglo-Norman wimble, a variation of guimble (“drill”), from the Middle Low German wiemel; continued in New French as gibelet.
Cocktail either named after the tool, in reference to its penetrating effects, or British Navy surgeon Thomas Gimlette (1857–1943).