Tool Definition

to͝ol
tooled, tooling, tools
noun
tools
Any implement, instrument, or utensil held in the hand and used to form, shape, fasten, add to, take away from, or otherwise change something by cutting, hitting, digging, rubbing, etc.: knives, saws, hammers, shovels, rakes, etc. are tools.
Webster's New World
A device, such as a saw, shovel, or drill, used to perform or facilitate manual or mechanical work.
American Heritage
Any similar instrument that is the working part of a power-driven machine, as a drill, band-saw blade, etc.
Webster's New World
The whole machine; machine tool.
Webster's New World
Anything that serves in the manner of a tool; a means.
Books are a scholar's tools.
Webster's New World
verb
tooled, tooling, tools
To form, shape, or work with a tool.
Webster's New World
To provide tools or machinery for (a factory, industry, etc.)
Webster's New World
To get or install the tools, equipment, etc. needed.
Webster's New World
To use a tool or tools.
Webster's New World
To drive (a vehicle).
Tooled the car at 80 miles an hour.
American Heritage

Other Word Forms of Tool

Noun

Singular:
tool
Plural:
tools

Origin of Tool

  • From Middle English tool, from Old English tōl (“tool, implement, instrument", literally “that with which one prepares something"), from Proto-Germanic *tōlÄ… (“tool"), from Proto-Indo-European *dewǝ- (“to tie to, secure"), equivalent to taw (“to prepare") +"Ž -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").

    From Wiktionary

  • Middle English from Old English tōl possibly from Old Norse

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

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