tool

Noun · Verb
Synonyms: instrumentcreaturepuppetcockprickdickshaftpeckerpeterputzjoyridetool around

WordNet 3.0

Noun (4)

  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”Synonyms: instrument
  3. a person who is controlled by others and is used to perform unpleasant or dishonest tasks for someone elseSynonyms: creaturepuppet
  4. obscene terms for penisSynonyms: cockprickdickshaftpeckerpeterputz

Verb (4)

  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”Synonyms: joyridetool around
  3. furnish with tools
  4. work with a tool
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Webster's Dictionary (GCIDE)

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. [1913 Webster]

2.To drive, as a coach. [Slang, Eng.] [1913 Webster]

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. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

Tool \Tool\ (t[=oo]l), 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. [1913 Webster]

2.A machine for cutting or shaping materials; -- also called machine tool. [1913 Webster]

3.Hence, any instrument of use or service. [1913 Webster]

That angry fool . . . Whipping her horse, did with his smarting tool Oft whip her dainty self.— Spenser.[1913 Webster]

4.A weapon. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]

Him that is aghast of every tool.— Chaucer.[1913 Webster]

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. [1913 Webster]

I was not made for a minion or a tool.— Burks.[1913 Webster]

Free On-line Dictionary of Computing

tool

1.<tool> 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.<jargon> (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.<jargon, person> (MIT) A student who studies too much and hacks too little. MIT's student humour magazine rejoices in the name "Tool and Die". [Jargon File]

(1996-12-12)

The Jargon File

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; see also toolchain.

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.)

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