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10 dictionary results for: Tool

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

tool

[tool] Pronunciation Key,

–noun

1.	an implement, esp. one held in the hand, as a hammer, saw, or file, for performing or facilitating mechanical operations.

2.	any instrument of manual operation.

3.	the cutting or machining part of a lathe, planer, drill, or similar machine.

4.	the machine itself; a machine tool.

5.	anything used as a means of accomplishing a task or purpose: Education is a tool for success.

6.	a person manipulated by another for the latter's own ends; cat's-paw.

7.	the design or ornament impressed upon the cover of a book.

Underworld Slang.

a.	a pistol or gun.

b.	a pickpocket.

9.	Slang: Vulgar. penis.

–verb (used with object)

10.	to work or shape with a tool.

11.	to work decoratively with a hand tool.

12.	to ornament (the cover of a book) with a bookbinder's tool.

13.	to drive (a vehicle): He tooled the car along the treacherous path.

14.	to equip with tools or machinery.

–verb (used without object)

15.	to work with a tool.

16.	to drive or ride in a vehicle: tooling along the freeway.

—Verb phrase

17.	tool up, to install machinery designed for performing a particular job: manufacturers tooling up for production.

[Origin: bef. 900; ME (n.); OE tōl; c. ON tōl tools; akin to taw²

]

—Related forms

tooler, noun

toolless, adjective

—Synonyms 1. Tool, implement, instrument, utensil refer to contrivances for doing work. A tool is a contrivance held in and worked by the hand, for assisting the work of (especially) mechanics or laborers: a carpenter's tools. An implement is any tool or contrivance designed or used for a particular purpose: agricultural implements. An instrument is anything used in doing a certain work or producing a certain result, especially such as requires delicacy, accuracy, or precision: surgical or musical instruments. A utensil is especially an article for domestic use: kitchen utensils. When used figuratively of human agency, tool is generally used in a contemptuous sense; instrument, in a neutral or good sense: a tool of unscrupulous men; an instrument of Providence.

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

tool (tōōl) Pronunciation Key
n.

A device, such as a saw, used to perform or facilitate manual or mechanical work.
1. A machine, such as a lathe, used to cut and shape machine parts or other objects.
2. The cutting part of such a machine.
3. A bookbinder's hand stamp.
4. A design impressed on a book cover by such a stamp.
Something regarded as necessary to the carrying out of one's occupation or profession: Words are the tools of our trade.
Something used in the performance of an operation; an instrument: "Modern democracies have the fiscal and monetary tools . . . to end chronic slumps and galloping inflations" (Paul A. Samuelson).
Vulgar Slang A penis.
A person used to carry out the designs of another; a dupe.
1. A bookbinder's hand stamp.
2. A design impressed on a book cover by such a stamp.
Computer Science An application program, often one that creates, manipulates, modifies, or analyzes other programs.

v. tooled, tool·ing, tools

v. tr.

To form, work, or decorate with a tool.
To ornament (a book cover) with a bookbinder's tool.
Slang To drive (a vehicle): tooled the car at 80 miles an hour.

v. intr.

To work with a tool.
Slang To drive or ride in a vehicle: tooled up and down the roads.

Phrasal Verb(s):
tool up
To provide an industry or a factory with machinery and tools suitable for a particular job.

[Middle English, from Old English tōl, possibly from Old Norse.]

Synonyms: These nouns refer to devices used in the performance of work. Tool applies broadly to a device that facilitates work; specifically it denotes a small manually operated device: a box full of tools for bike repair.
Instrument refers especially to a relatively small precision tool used by trained professionals: sterilized the scalpel and the other instruments.
Implement is the preferred term for tools used in agriculture and certain building trades: rakes, hoes, and other implements.
Utensil often refers to an implement used in a household, especially in the kitchen: cooking utensils hung by the stove.
Appliance most frequently denotes a power-driven device that performs a specific function: a store selling toasters and other appliances.

(Download Now or Buy the Book)
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
tool

O.E. tol "instrument, implement," from P.Gmc. *tolan (cf. O.N. tol), from a verb stem represented by O.E. tawian "prepare." The ending is the instrumental suffix -l (e.g. shovel). Fig. sense of "person used by another for his own ends" is recorded from 1663. Slang meaning "penis" first recorded 1553. The verb "to drive a vehicle" is first attested 1812, probably from the noun. The meaning "to work or shape with a tool" is recorded from 1815; that of "equip (a factory) with machine tools" is from 1927. Tool-box first recorded 1832.

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WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

tool
noun
1.	an implement used in the practice of a vocation
2.	the means whereby some act is accomplished; "my greed was the instrument of my destruction"; "science has given us new tools to fight disease" [syn: instrument]
3.	a person who is controlled by others and is used to perform unpleasant or dishonest tasks for someone else [syn: creature]
4.	obscene terms for penis [syn: cock]
verb
1.	drive; "The convertible tooled down the street"
2.	ride in a car with no particular goal and just for the pleasure of it; "We tooled down the street" [syn: joyride]
3.	furnish with tools
4.	work with a tool

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Free On-line Dictionary of Computing - Cite This Source - Share This

tool
1. A program used primarily to create, manipulate, modify, or analyse other programs, such as a compiler or an editor or a cross-referencing program. Opposite: app, operating system.
2. A Unix application program with a simple, "transparent" (typically text-stream) interface designed specifically to be used in programmed combination with other tools (see filter, plumbing).
3. (MIT: general to students there) To work; to study (connotes tedium). The TMRC Dictionary defined this as "to set one's brain to the grindstone". See hack.
4. (MIT) A student who studies too much and hacks too little. MIT's student humour magazine rejoices in the name "Tool and Die".
[The Jargon File]
(1996-12-12)

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Jargon File - Cite This Source - Share This

tool

1. n. A program used primarily to create, manipulate, modify, or analyze other programs, such as a compiler or an editor or a cross-referencing program. Oppose app, operating system.
2. [Unix] An application program with a simple, `transparent' (typically text-stream) interface designed specifically to be used in programmed combination with other tools (see filter, plumbing).
3. [MIT: general to students there] vi. To work; to study (connotes tedium). The TMRC Dictionary defined this as "to set one's brain to the grindstone". See hack.
4. n. [MIT] A student who studies too much and hacks too little. (MIT's student humor magazine rejoices in the name "Tool and Die".)

Jargon File 4.2.0

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U.S. Gazetteer - Cite This Source - Share This

Tool, TX (city, FIPS 73352) Location: 32.28025 N, 96.17242 W
Population (1990): 1712 (1354 housing units)
Area: 9.4 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)

U.S. Gazetteer, U.S. Census Bureau

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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Tool

Tool\ (t[=oo]l), v. i. [Cf. Tool, v. t., 2.] To travel in a vehicle; to ride or drive. [Colloq.]

Boys on their bicycles tooling along the well-kept roads. --Illust. American.

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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Tool

Tool\, n. [OE. tol,tool. AS. t[=o]l; akin to Icel. t[=o]l, Goth. taijan to do, to make, taui deed, work, and perhaps to E. taw to dress leather. [root]64.]

1. An instrument such as a hammer, saw, plane, file, and the like, used in the manual arts, to facilitate mechanical operations; any instrument used by a craftsman or laborer at his work; an implement; as, the tools of a joiner, smith, shoe-maker, etc.; also, a cutter, chisel, or other part of an instrument or machine that dresses work.

2. A machine for cutting or shaping materials; -- also called machine tool.

3. Hence, any instrument of use or service.

That angry fool . . . Whipping her horse, did with his smarting tool Oft whip her dainty self. --Spenser.

4. A weapon. [Obs.]

Him that is aghast of every tool. --Chaucer.

5. A person used as an instrument by another person; -- a word of reproach; as, men of intrigue have their tools, by whose agency they accomplish their purposes.

I was not made for a minion or a tool. --Burks.

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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Tool

Tool\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. tooled; p. pr. & vb. n. tooling.]

1. To shape, form, or finish with a tool. "Elaborately tooled." --Ld. Lytton.

2. To drive, as a coach. [Slang, Eng.]

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