TOOL • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Tool

Add this Dictionary
to your website!
See more options...

/tul/ Listen

noun

Tool n.

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.

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

Hence, any instrument of use or service. "That angry fool... Whipping her horse, did with his smarting tool Oft whip her dainty self."

A weapon. (Obs.) "Him that is aghast of every tool."

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."

verb

Tool v. t. (past & past part. tooled; pres. part. tooling)

To shape, form, or finish with a tool. "Elaborately tooled."

To drive, as a coach. (Slang, Eng.)

Tool v. i. To travel in a vehicle; to ride or drive. (Colloq.) "Boys on their bicycles tooling along the well-kept roads."

See images of 'Tool'

Etymology of 'Tool'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

Share |

"Tool" Quotes from Famous Books

... hater, and few men have been more cordially hated in return. He was imperious, insolent, hot-tempered. He could brook no equal. He had also the fatal defect of enjoying the flattery, of his inferiors in station. Adroit intriguers burned incense to him as a god, and employed him as their tool. And now he had mortally offended Hohenlo, and Buys, and Barneveld, while he hated Sir John Norris with a most passionate hatred. Wilkes, the English representative, was already a special object of his aversion. The unvarnished statements made by the stiff ...

— The Rise of the Dutch Republic, 1555-1566 • John Lothrop Motley

... papers he was amazed at the imagination of his mistress which had first discerned the possibility of making the cause of Italian liberty serve her brother's ambitious imperialism, and the marvellous finesse with which she had vanquished Murat's gascon envy and resentment and made him once more a tool in the hand of the Emperor. Still more he admired Napoleon's acumen and resource as he saw order coming out of chaos and all things working together for the success of his stupendous undertaking. The Emperor had planned to first secure Paris, and then, proclaiming the independence of Italy, ...

— Romance of Roman Villas - (The Renaissance) • Elizabeth W. (Elizbeth Williams) Champney

... hold that instinct governs all actions of the lower animals, usually claim that man is the only tool-user. This is a gross mistake—elephants, when walking along the road, will break branches from the trees and use them as fly-brushes;[120] these creatures also manufacture surgical instruments, and use them in getting rid of certain parasites;[121] ...

— The Dawn of Reason - or, Mental Traits in the Lower Animals • James Weir

... of a person being the "tool" of another, and this is a metaphor taken from the general idea of work. The "tool" is merely used by the other person for some purpose of his own, just as a workman uses his tools. The greatest poem, or book, ...

— Stories That Words Tell Us • Elizabeth O'Neill

... thyself to that estate and to those occurrences, which by the destinies have been annexed unto thee; and love those men whom thy fate it is to live with; but love them truly. An instrument, a tool, an utensil, whatsoever it be, if it be fit for the purpose it was made for, it is as it should be though he perchance that made and fitted it, be out of sight and gone. But in things natural, that power which hath framed and fitted them, is and abideth ...

— Meditations • Marcus Aurelius

More quotes...