. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
you have here. The definition of the word
will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Several tools in a toolbox
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").
Pronunciation
Noun
tool (plural tools )
Any mechanical device meant to ease or do a task.
Hand me that tool , would you?
I don't have the right tools to start fiddling around with the engine.
Any piece of equipment used in a profession, e.g. a craftman's tools .
These are the tools of the trade.
2012 March, Brian Hayes , “Pixels or Perish”, in American Scientist , volume 100 , number 2, archived from the original on 19 February 2013 , page 106 :Drawings and pictures are more than mere ornaments in scientific discourse. Blackboard sketches, geological maps, diagrams of molecular structure, astronomical photographs, MRI images, the many varieties of statistical charts and graphs: These pictorial devices are indispensable tools for presenting evidence, for explaining a theory, for telling a story.
Something to perform an operation; an instrument ; a means .
1867 , The Masonic Trowel , volume 6, page 44 :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.
2013 July-August, Catherine Clabby, “Focus on Everything”, in American Scientist , archived from the original on 11 May 2017 :Not long ago, it was difficult to produce photographs of tiny creatures with every part in focus. [ …] A photo processing technique called focus stacking has changed that. Developed as a tool to electronically combine the sharpest bits of multiple digital images, focus stacking is a boon to biologists seeking full focus on a micron scale.
( computing ) 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
A person or group which is used or controlled, usually unwittingly , by another person or group.
He was a tool , no more than a pawn to her.
( by extension, vulgar , slang , derogatory ) 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 .
( baseball ) A particular skill pertaining to baseball (such as hitting , running , etc.).
a five-tool player
2007 November 7, Mark Bechtel, “"there's Something Fun About Yooouuuk"”, in Sports Illustrated , archived from the original on 2008-10-14 :When asked what he liked about Youk [Kevin Youkilis ], former Boston scout Matt Haas says, "At first glance, not a lot." (Mind you, this is one of the few scouts who actually wanted the kid.) "He was unorthodox," says Haas, who now scouts for the Arizona Diamondbacks. "He had an extreme crouch—his thighs were almost parallel to the ground. And he was heavier than he is now. But the more I watched him, the more I just thought, Throw the tools out the window. This guy can play baseball."
( vulgar , informal ) A penis , notably with a sexual or erotic connotation.
Synonyms: see Thesaurus:penis
1613 (date written), William Shakespeare , [John Fletcher ], “The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight ”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio ), London: Isaac Iaggard , and Ed Blount , published 1623 , →OCLC , , page 231 :Or haue wee some strange Indian with the great Toole , come to Court, the women so besiege vs?
2019 February 1, Burna Bandz (lyrics and music), “Goons” (track 13), in Compact Burna :She wanna hang with the goons She wanna party midnight till noon She wanna play with my tool
( slang , Canada , US , MTE , MLE , and possibly wider) A gun .
2019 February 1, Burna Bandz (lyrics and music), “Goons” (track 13), in Compact Burna :In my city keep a tool Lil nigga you know the rules
Synonyms
Hyponyms
criminal tool , crimping tool , cutting tool , deburring tool , edge tool , entrenching tool , grafting tool , Halligan tool , hand tool , hive tool , Jacot tool , machine tool , power tool , set tool , sex tool , side tool , spare tool , swing tool , tint tool , tip tool , turning tool
Derived terms
course authoring tool criminal tool deburring tool down tools dry-tool entrenching tool E-tool e-tool fine adjustment tool five tool player five-tool player go back to the tools grafting tool Halligan tool hand tool hive tool Jacot tool K-tool machine tool metatool meta-tool metatool microtool microtool mindtool mindtool multitool multi-tool multitool nanotool nanotool not the sharpest tool in the box not the sharpest tool in the shed rape tool retool retool set tool side tool spare tool swing tool tint tool tip tool toolage toolage tool and die tool and die toolbag toolbag tool-bar tool bar toolbar , tool bar toolbelt toolbelt toolbox , tool box toolbuilder toolbuilder toolbuilding toolbuilding toolcase toolcase toolchain toolchest , tool chest toolcrib , tool-crib , tool crib tooled tooler tooler tool frame tool-friendly toolholder toolholder toolholding toolholding toolhouse toolhouse toolie tooling toolishness toolishness toolkit tool kit toolkit , tool kit toolless toollike toolmaker toolmaking toolmaking toolmark toolmark tool path toolpath , tool path tool post toolpost , tool post tool-pusher toolpusher , tool-pusher tool-rest toolrest , tool-rest toolroom , tool room toolset toolsetter toolsetter toolsetting toolsetting toolshed , tool shed toolshelf toolshelf toolsmith toolsmith toolsmithing toolsmithing toolstack tool steel tool steel toolstock toolstock tool stone tool stone toolstrip toolstrip tool subject tooltip tooltip tool up turning tool webtool webtool worktool worktool work-tool
Translations
mechanical device intended to make a task easier
Albanian: mjet (sq) m , vegël (sq) f
Amharic: መሣሪያ ( mäśariya )
Arabic: أَدَاة f ( ʔadāh ) , آلَة (ar) f ( ʔāla ) , عُدَّة f ( ʕudda )
Gulf Arabic: اداة f ( adāt )
Hijazi Arabic: عِدّة f ( ʕidda )
Moroccan Arabic: دزان m ( dezan )
Armenian: գործիք (hy) ( gorcikʿ )
Assamese: সঁজুলি ( xõzuli ) , আহিলা ( ahila )
Asturian: ferramienta (ast) f
Avar: алат ( alat )
Azerbaijani: alət (az) , hacat
Basque: please add this translation if you can
Belarusian: інструме́нт m ( instrumjént ) , прыла́да (be) f ( pryláda )
Bengali: সাধনী ( śadhoni )
Bulgarian: инструме́нт (bg) m ( instrumént ) , оръ́дие (bg) n ( orǎ́die )
Burmese: ကိရိယာ (my) ( ki.ri.ya )
Catalan: eina (ca) f
Cebuano: gamit , himan
Chinese:
Cantonese: 架生 ( gaa3 caang1 , gaa3 saang1 ) , 工具 ( gung1 geoi6 )
Eastern Min: 工具 ( gĕ̤ng-gê̤ṳ )
Hakka: 工具 ( kûng-khí )
Hokkien: 家私 (zh-min-nan) ( ke-si ) , 工具 (zh-min-nan) ( kang-kū / kang-kī / kang-khū )
Mandarin: 工具 (zh) ( gōngjù )
Wu: 工具 ( 1 kon-jy)
Crimean Tatar: alet
Czech: nástroj (cs) m
Danish: værktøj (da) n , redskab (da) n , instrument n ,grej (da) n
Dutch: gereedschap (nl) n , werktuig (nl) n , instrument (nl) n , hulpmiddel (nl) n
Esperanto: laborilo
Estonian: tööriist (et)
Finnish: työkalu (fi)
French: outil (fr) m
Galician: ferramenta (gl) f
Georgian: ინსტრუმენტი ( insṭrumenṭi )
German: Gerät (de) n , Instrument (de) n , Werkzeug (de) n
Greek: εργαλείο (el) n ( ergaleío ) , όργανο (el) n ( órgano )
Ancient: ἐργαλεῖον n ( ergaleîon )
Hebrew: כְּלִי (he) m ( kli )
Higaonon: himan
Hindi: उपकरण (hi) m ( upakraṇ ) , औज़ार m ( auzār )
Hungarian: ( for repairs ) szerszám (hu) , ( device, means, instrument in general ) eszköz (hu) , ( mostly in compounds ) szer (hu)
Icelandic: verkfæri (is) n , tól n
Indonesian: alat (id)
Ingrian: asu
Interlingua: instrumento
Irish: uirlis f
Italian: arnese (it) m , strumento (it) m , utensile (it) m , mezzo (it) m
Japanese: 道具 (ja) ( どうぐ, dōgu ) , ツール (ja) ( tsūru )
Kazakh: аспап ( aspap ) , құрал ( qūral )
Khmer: គ្រឿង (km) ( krɨəng ) , ប្រដាប់ (km) ( prɑdap ) , ប្រដាប់ប្រដា ( prɑdap prɑdaa )
Korean: 도구(道具) (ko) ( dogu ) , 툴 ( tul )
Kyrgyz: курал (ky) ( kural ) , аспап (ky) ( aspap )
Lao: ເຄື່ອງມື (lo) ( khư̄ang mư̄ ) , ເຄື່ອງ ( khư̄ang )
Latin: instrūmentum (la) n , ferrāmentum n
Latvian: instruments m , darbarīks m
Lithuanian: įrankis (lt) m , įnagis m
Lü: ᦵᦆᦲᧂᧈ ( xoeng¹ )
Luhya: sisindu
Macedonian: алатка f ( alatka ) , алат m ( alat )
Malay: alat (ms)
Maltese: għodda f
Maori: paraha
Mongolian:
Cyrillic: багаж (mn) ( bagaž ) , хэрэгсэл (mn) ( xeregsel )
Navajo: bee naʼanishí
Nepali: औजार (ne) ( aujār )
Ngazidja Comorian: shomɓo class 7 /8 ( shombo )
Norwegian:
Bokmål: verktøy (no) n
Nynorsk: verktøy n
Occitan: aisina (oc) f
Old Church Slavonic:
Cyrillic: орѫдиѥ n ( orǫdije )
Pashto: اوزار (ps) m ( awzār ) , آله (ps) f ( āla ) , اوړی (ps) m ( oṛay ) , سامان (ps) m ( sāmān )
Persian: اَبْزار (fa) ( abzâr ) , اَسْباب (fa) ( asbâb ) , آلَت (fa) ( âlat ) , اَفْزار (fa) ( afzâr )
Piedmontese: utiss m
Polish: narzędzie (pl) n , przybór (pl) m
Portuguese: instrumento (pt) m , ferramenta (pt) f
Romanian: sculă (ro) f , unealtă (ro) f , instrument (ro) n
Russian: инструме́нт (ru) m ( instrumént ) , ору́дие труда́ n ( orúdije trudá ) , ору́дие (ru) n ( orúdije )
Sanskrit: उपकरण (sa) n ( upakaraṇa )
Scots: tuil
Scottish Gaelic: inneal m
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: а̀ла̄т m , о̀рӯђе n
Roman: àlāt (sh) m , òrūđe (sh) n
Shan: ၶိူင်ႈ (shn) ( khōeng )
Sicilian: mmarazzu (scn) m , strummentu m , stigghiu m , pupu (scn) m ( figurately )
Slovak: nástroj m
Slovene: orodje (sl) n
Spanish: herramienta (es) f
Sranan Tongo: wrokosani
Swahili: kifaa (sw) class 7 /8
Swedish: verktyg (sv)
Tajik: олат ( olat ) , асбоб (tg) ( asbob ) , афзор (tg) ( afzor ) , абзор (tg) ( abzor )
Tatar: корал (tt) ( qoral )
Telugu: పనిముట్టు (te) ( panimuṭṭu )
Thai: เครื่อง (th) ( krʉ̂ʉang ) , อุปกรณ์ (th) ( ù-bpà-gɔɔn ) , เครื่องมือ (th) ( krʉ̂ʉang-mʉʉ )
Tibetan: ལག་ཆ ( lag cha )
Turkish: alet (tr) , araç (tr)
Turkmen: abzal (tk)
Ukrainian: інструме́нт m ( instrumént ) , начи́ння n ( načýnnja ) , знаря́ддя n ( znarjáddja )
Urdu: آلَہ (ur) m ( āla ) , اَوزار m ( auzār )
Uyghur: سايمان (ug) ( sayman )
Uzbek: asbob (uz) , olat (uz)
Vietnamese: dụng cụ (vi) , đồ dùng (vi)
Walloon: usteye (wa) f , osti (wa) m
Welsh: teclyn (cy) m
West Frisian: ark n
White Hmong: please add this translation if you can
Yiddish: ווערקצייג ( verktseyg ) , מכשיר m ( makhsher )
Zhuang: gaiqdawz , gunghgi
equipment used in a profession
Arabic:
Gulf Arabic: اداة f ( adāt )
Armenian: գործիք (hy) ( gorcikʿ )
Asturian: ferramienta (ast) f
Bulgarian: сре́дство (bg) n ( srédstvo )
Catalan: eina (ca) f , instrument (ca) m
Chinese:
Mandarin: 工具 (zh) ( gōngjù )
Danish: værktøj (da) n
Dutch: gereedschap (nl) n , instrument (nl) n
Estonian: vahend
Finnish: työkalu (fi)
French: outil (fr) m
Galician: ferramenta (gl) f
Georgian: please add this translation if you can
German: Instrument (de) n , Werkzeug (de) n , Handwerkszeug (de) n
Greek: εργαλείο (el) n ( ergaleío )
Ancient: ἐργαλεῖον n ( ergaleîon )
Hebrew: מכשיר (he) m ( makhshir )
Ingrian: asu
Interlingua: instrumento
Italian: attrezzo (it) m , strumento (it) m , utensile (it) m
Japanese: 道具 (ja) ( どうぐ, dōgu ) , 工具 (ja) ( こうぐ, kōgu )
Korean: 도구(道具) (ko) ( dogu ) , 공구(工具) (ko) ( gonggu )
Latin: instrūmentum (la) n
Navajo: bee naʼanishí
Norwegian: verktøy (no) n
Bokmål: redskap (no) m or n
Nynorsk: reiskap m
Polish: narzędzie (pl) n
Portuguese: instrumento (pt) m , ferramenta (pt) f
Romanian: unealtă (ro) , instrument (ro) n
Russian: инструме́нт (ru) m ( instrumént ) , сре́дство (ru) n ( srédstvo )
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: средство n , прибор m
Roman: sredstvo (sh) n , pribor (sh) m
Sicilian: mmarazzu (scn) m , strummentu m , stigghiu m
Spanish: herramienta (es) f , utensilio (es) m
Swahili: kifaa (sw) class 7 /8
Swedish: verktyg (sv)
Turkish: alet (tr) , araç (tr)
a software for developers
person or group used or controlled by another
Translations to be checked
References
Verb
tool (third-person singular simple present tools , present participle tooling , simple past and past participle tooled )
( transitive ) To work on or shape with tools, e.g., hand-tooled leather .
( transitive ) To equip with tools.
( intransitive ) To work very hard.
1965 , Matt Fichtenbaum, Dan Murphy, “The Institute Screw”, in The Broadside of Boston , volume III, number 22 :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.
( transitive , slang ) 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.
( transitive , volleyball ) To intentionally attack the ball so that it deflects off a blocker out of bounds .
( transitive , UK , slang , dated ) To drive (a coach or other vehicle).
( transitive , UK , slang , dated ) To carry or convey in a coach or other vehicle.
1850s , Cuthbert M. Bede, The Adventures of Mr. Verdant Green
Among those who seemed disposed to join in this opinion was the Jehu of the Warwickshire coach, who expressed his conviction to our hero, that "he wos a young gent as had much himproved hisself since he tooled him up to the Warsity with his guvnor."
( intransitive , slang ) 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
2011 , Ben Aaronovitch , Rivers of London , Gollancz, published 2011 , page 324 :These are the guys that tool around in Mercedes Sprinter vans with equipment lockers stuffed with everything from riot helmets to tasers.
Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations
Translations to be checked
References
^ Carus, Paul (1893 ) The philosophy of the tool , Chicago: The Open Court Publishing Company, pages 3-4
^ Hall, John Richard Clark (1960 ) A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary , 4 edition, Supplement by Herbert D. Merritt, Cambridge University Press, published 1984 , →ISBN , page 338 & 345
Anagrams
Dutch
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from English tool .
Pronunciation
Noun
tool m (plural tools , diminutive tooltje n )
A tool , aid, instrument, auxiliary device .
Synonym: hulpmiddel
Related terms
Estonian
Tool
Etymology
From Middle Low German stôl , ultimately from Proto-Germanic *stōlaz .
Pronunciation
Noun
tool (genitive tooli , partitive tooli )
chair
A seat with four legs and a backrest for one person.
1968 , Peet Vallak, Tuuled ümber maja: Novellivalimik , page 200 :Siis läks kogu ta vallasvara oksjonile ning mõni siiasiginenud tool , laud, voodi, kapp ja sööginõud olid nüüd seaduslikult naise-ema omad. Then all his personal property was put up for auction and any chair , table, bed, or dishes he had taken possession now belonged legitimately to his mother-in-law.
Declension
Derived terms
References
Middle English
Etymology 1
From Old English tōl , from Proto-Germanic *tōlą .
Alternative forms
Pronunciation
Noun
tool (plural toles or tolen )
A tool , implement , or instrument .
An instrument of war ; an armament .
( rare ) A device used for torturing or interrogration.
( rare , vulgar ) A penis .
Descendants
References
Etymology 2
Noun
tool
Alternative form of toll .
Wolof
Pronunciation
Noun
tool (definite form tool bi )
field
garden
References
Omar Ka (2018 ) Nanu Dégg Wolof , National African Language Resource Center, →ISBN , page 255