tool

Meaning

1. Any mechanical device meant to ease or do a task.
2. Any piece of equipment used in a profession, e.g. a craftman's tools.
3. Something to perform an operation; an instrument; a means.
4. A piece of software used to develop software or hardware, or to perform low-level operations.
5. A person or group which is used or controlled, usually unwittingly, by another person or group.
6. A particular skill pertaining to baseball (such as hitting, running, etc.).
7. (informal) A penis, notably with a sexual or erotic connotation.
8. (slang) An obnoxious or uptight person.
9. (slang) A gun.

instrument

implement

gadget

cat’s-paw

disapprove of

look askance at

piece of equipment

hand-tool

dight

useful thing

John Thomas

working equipment

dispositive

machines and tools

jobbyjobber

degen

mean of communication

child’s play

drive around

Frequency

Pronounced as (IPA)

/tuːl/

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").

Bookmark this

Improve your pronunciation

Write this word