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: before 900; Middle English (noun); Old English tōl; cognate with Old Norse tōl tools; akin to taw2
Related forms
tool·er, noun
tool·less, adjective
mul·ti·tool, noun
un·tooled, 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.
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.
n. an earnest student. (See also power tool.) : Of course he's a tool. See the plastic liner in his pocket?
n. a dupe; someone who can be victimized easily. : They were looking for some tool to drive the getaway car.
in. to speed along (in a car). (See also tool around.) : We were tooling along at about seventy-five when the cop spotted us.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition. Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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