aspergillum

aspergillum (plural aspergilla or aspergillums)

aspergilla (plural)
aspergillums (plural)
aspergil (alternative)
aspergill (alternative)

/ˌæs.pəɹˈd͡ʒɪl.əm/

From Ecclesiastical Latin aspergillum, from aspergō (“to sprinkle”).

The king’s authority held sway not only over the knight’s mighty sword, but also over the episcopal cross and aspergillum: for the bishops plied back and forth between court and province like all the other lords.

1994, Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie, “Introduction: Classic Monarchy”, in Juliet Vale, transl., The Royal French State, 1460-1610, page 6:

(Christianity) An implement, in the form of a brush or of a rod with a perforated container, for sprinkling holy water; a holy-water sprinkle.


bolt cutter

A metal tool, resembling a large pair of pliers, used to cut or sheer bolts.


sullow

en-verb

sullow (third-person singular simple present sullows, present participle sullowing, simple past and past participle sullowed)

sullows (present singular third-person)
sullowing (participle present)
sullowed (participle past)
sullowed (past)

From Middle English sulwen, solwen, solewen, variant of Middle English sulien (“to sully”), or representing an unrecorded Old English *solgian (“to soil, sully”), related to Old High German solagōn (“to soil, sully, make dirty”). More at sully.


sullow

sullows (plural)
sull (alternative)
sowl (alternative)
zool (alternative)

From Middle English suluh, solowe, from Old English sulh, from Proto-Germanic *sulhs, from Proto-Indo-European *selk- (“to pull”) (compare Latin sulcus (“furrow”), Tocharian B sälk (“to pull out”), Ancient Greek ἕλκω (hélkō, “to drag”), ὁλκός (holkós, “draft”), Albanian hulli (“furrow”), heq (“take away, drag”) dialectal helk, Old Armenian հեղգ (hełg, “slow-going, lagging”)).


glass cutter

glass cutters (plural)
glasscutter (alternative)

A hand tool used for scoring a piece of glass so that it can be snapped cleanly in two.

алма́з

для ре́зки стекла́


bitstock

A hand tool consisting of a crank which holds a fitted rotating drill bit tip, designed to bore holes in rigid materials, by cutting a disc in a spiral fashion.

بريمة

drill bit-carrying crank for boring holes


dog hook

A tool used to manipulate logs; a peavy.


Stillson wrench

en-noun

Stillson wrench (plural Stillson wrenches)

From the American inventor Daniel Chapman Stillson.


tommy bar

pin spanner

tool involving an analogous male cylindrical portion

A set of two tommy bars is the standard tooling for the spindle nose threads of some minilathes and minimills.

(engineering, machining) A cylindrical iron or steel bar used as a lever.

A bar used to loosen or tighten some types of chucks and tool holders on machine tools such as lathes or milling machines.

crowbar

hooked bars, differentiated from tommy bars


lucet

From Middle English lucet (“heraldic representation of a pike fish”), from Old French lucet (“small pike”), from Old French lus + -et, from Latin lucius (“pike fish”).

inh

Lucets were used for making cords.

... a narrow chain-stitch cord of the same brass-covered thread, of the simplest type made with the fingers or a lucet.

1993, Sue Margeson, Norwich Households: The Medieval and Post-Medieval Finds from Norwich Survey Excavations, 1971-1978, East Anglian Archaeology, →ISBN:

1998, Elaine Fuller, Kirstine Nikolajsen, Lucet Braiding: Variations on a Renaissance Cord, →ISBN:

Using Lucet tool or DPNs, make Lucet cord ...

2008, Shannon Okey, How to Knit in the Woods, Skipstone, →ISBN, page 98:


quernstone

quernstones (plural)
quern-stone (alternative)

From quern + stone. From Middle English querneston, whernston, from Old English cweornstān, from Proto-Germanic *kwernōstainaz. Cognate with Old High German quirnstein and Old Norse kvernsteinn.

Either of a pair of stones used for grinding material by hand.


torsion wrench

en-noun

torsion wrench (plural torsion wrenches)

An L-shaped tool used in lock picking to apply torsion to the inner cylinder of a lock, in order to hold any picked pins in place, while the other pins are shifted, and then to turn the inner cylinder and open the lock.


torque wrench

A torsion wrench, an L-shaped lockpicking tool.


tension wrench

tension wrench (plural tension wrenches)


bump key

A lockpicking tool in the form of a key of the type generally used to open a lock, on which all pins have been cut down to the lowest position, so that striking this key sharply with a hammer while applying turning force at just the right instant after the impact will 'bump' open a lock.


lock pick

en-verb

lock pick (third-person singular simple present lock picks, present participle lock picking, simple past and past participle lock picked)

lock picks (present singular third-person)
lock picking (participle present)
lock picked (participle past)
lock picked (past)
lockpick (alternative)
lock-pick (alternative)

To use tools to unlock locks without a key; to pick locks.


sparable

From sparrowbill, in reference to its shape, like a sparrow's beak.

[H]e was sometimes seen disputing with the cobbler, his opposite neighbour, about the charge of two-pence; and refusing to pay Crispin's demand, unless he put three or four more sparables in the heels of the shoes which he had mended twice before!

1828, JT Smith, Nollekens and His Times, Century Hutchinson, published 1986, page 183:

A small headless nail used in making shoes (especially the heels).


cross peen hammer

en-noun

cross peen hammer (plural cross peen hammers)

a hammer with a blade-like peen at right angles to the haft, used by carpenters.


Warrington hammer

Warrington hammer (plural Warrington hammers)


straight peen hammer

straight peen hammer (plural straight peen hammers)

a hammer with a blade-like peen parallel to the haft, used by carpenters.


subterrene

From Latin subterrēnus. By surface analysis, sub- + terrene.

With a deafening screech of metal upon rock—which surely must echo through all the recesses of the Mountain, and waken all its nightmare brood!—the subterrene smashed through the wall and came to rest beside them.

1956, Arthur C. Clarke, chapter 1, in The City and the Stars:

In the first field tests, a series of holes 2 inches in diameter and 12 feet deep were sunk with the rock-melting device, or subterrene.

1972, American Nuclear Society, Nuclear News, volume 15, page 47:

… “The beauty of the Subterrene is that, as it burrows through the rock hundreds of feet below the surface, it heats whatever stone it encounters into molten rock, or magma, which cools after the Subterrene has moved on. …

2009, November, Mark Ellis as James Axler, Outlanders 051: Warlord of the Pit

(rare) A machine for drilling or tunneling underground.

подзе́мная ло́дка

a machine for drilling or tunneling underground


bucker

(mining) A broad-headed hammer used in bucking ore.


croze

A cooper's tool for making these grooves.


strickle

strickles (plural)
strikle (alternative)
stritchel (alternative)
stritchell (alternative)
stritchill (alternative)
strichell (alternative)

From Middle English strikile, strikelle, strikyll, from Old English stricel, equivalent to strick + -le (diminutive suffix). Compare Middle Dutch strijkel, streekel, strekel.

A rod used to level off heaped grain etc. when being measured, or concrete after pouring.


slitter

A person who or thing that slits.
Shears for slitting sheet metal.


prybar

A tool for prying (prising); usually made of steel.


tattoo machine

A small hand-held device used for applying tattoos.


holy water sprinkler

holy water sprinkler (plural holy water sprinklers)

/ˈhəʊli ˌwɔːtə ˈspɹɪŋklə/

PIE word
 *kéh₂ilos
From holy water + sprinkler, probably a variant of holy-water sprinkle.

holy-water sprinkle
holy-water sprinkle#English


Stihl

From the brand of a manufacturer of chainsaws and other handheld power tools. See Stihl on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

A type of large industrial saw, usually cordless with a petrol motor and a large circular cutting blade.


hayrake

A rake for collecting hay
a hand-held one

a large rake drawn by a horse or horses.

A rake for collecting hay
a large rake dragged by a tractor


hayrake

en-verb

hayrake (third-person singular simple present hayrakes, present participle hayraking, simple past and past participle hayraked)

hayrakes (present singular third-person)
hayraking (participle present)
hayraked (participle past)
hayraked (past)

To collect hay with a rake of this kind.


plumber's snake

en-noun

plumber's snake (plural plumber's snakes)

A long, flexible tool, often with rotating blades at its forward end, which is inserted into a plumbing pipe system and used to remove clogs or other obstructions.

sonda desatascadora / destapacaños / desatoradora


arcograph

An instrument for drawing a circular arc without the use of a central point.


ringhead

In the figure only the top and bottom cylinder heads have been replaced by ringheads, with the side heads remaining conventional so that rounded corners can be produced on the planed planks.

1974, Richard A. Horn, Morphology of Wood Pulp Fiber from Softwoods and Influence on Paper Strength, page 3:

Variables were examined: Moisture content, angle of knives in ringhead, angle of cutting edge, position of ringhead in relation to centerline of piece being planed, and cutting speed.

1975, Bruce G. Heebink, Producing Flakes for Structural Particleboard on a Ringhead Planer:

(woodworking) A cutting tool or assembly that consists of a circular head which houses multiple cutting knives or blades arranged in a ring formation.


use a sledgehammer to crack a nut

en-verb

use a sledgehammer to crack a nut (third-person singular simple present uses a sledgehammer to crack a nut, present participle using a sledgehammer to crack a nut, simple past and past participle used a sledgehammer to crack a nut)

uses a sledgehammer to crack a nut (present singular third-person)
using a sledgehammer to crack a nut (participle present)
used a sledgehammer to crack a nut (participle past)
used a sledgehammer to crack a nut (past)

/ˌjuːz‿ə ˈslɛd͡ʒhæmə tə ˌkɹæk‿ə ˈnʌt/

/ˌjuz‿ə ˈslɛd͡ʒhæmɚ tə ˌkɹæk‿ə ˈnʌt/

En-au-use a sledgehammer to crack a nut.ogg

The analogy dates back to at least the middle of the 19th century: see, for example, this quotation from Levi Carroll Judson’s work Sages and Heroes of the American Revolution (1851): “He at once became the nucleus around which a band of patriots gathered and formed a nut too hard to be cracked by the sledgehammer of monarchy.”

nb...

In Two Parts: Including the Signers of the Declaration of Independence. Two Hundred and Forty Three of the Sages and Heroes are Presented in Due Form: And Many Others are Named Incidentally.

This last mentioned consideration involves the concept in Community law (derived principally from German law) called "proportionality". In plain English it means "You must not use a steam hammer to crack a nut, if a nutcracker would do."

[1983 January 20, Lord Diplock [i.e., Kenneth Diplock, Baron Diplock], Lord of Appeal in Ordinary, House of Lords, “Regina, respondent, and Goldstein, appellant [[1983] 1 W.L.R. 151]”, in The Weekly Law Reports, volume 1, London: Incorporated Council of Law Reporting for England and Wales, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 155:

Today, Mr [Anthony] Worthington, an engineer, said: 'Sending three officers over simply to give a warning about kids playing football in the street is like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.[…]'

2010 September 21, “‘A sledgehammer to crack a nut’: Three police officers and a patrol car rush to … children playing football in the street”, in Daily Mail, London: DMG Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-03-06:

In our view the Public Order Bill is an attempt by the Government to use a sledgehammer to crack a nut. At a time when we should be focusing on rebuilding trust in the police, this Bill risks stoking further mistrust and undermining their vital role in protecting the public.

2022 December 17, Martin Evans, quoting Mike Barton et al., “Law to curb Just Stop Oil protests ‘a sledgehammer to crack a nut’, say ex-police chiefs”, in Chris Evans, editor, The Daily Telegraph, London: Telegraph Media Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-02-18:

(intransitive, Australia, British, New Zealand, idiomatic, informal) To use disproportionate or significantly excessive force to carry out an action; to do something overzealously.

to use disproportionate or significantly excessive force to carry out an action

高射炮打蚊子 (gāoshèpào dǎ wénzi, literally “to use an anti-aircraft gun to hit a mosquito”)

割雞焉用牛刀 /割鸡焉用牛刀 (gējī yān yòng niúdāo, literally “when killing a chicken, why use an ox cleaver?”)

牛鼎烹雞 /牛鼎烹鸡 (niúdǐngpēngjī, literally “to use a cauldron for a cow to cook a chicken”)

ಗುಬ್ಬಿ ಮೇಲೆ ಬ್ರಹ್ಮಾಸ್ತ್ರ (gubbi mēle brahmāstra, literally “to strike a sparrow with the brahmāstra”)

пали́ть из пу́шки по воробья́м impf (palítʹ iz púški po vorobʹjám, literally “to fire a cannon at sparrows”)

పిచ్చుక మీద బ్రహ్మాస్త్రము (piccuka mīda brahmāstramu, literally “to strike a sparrow with the brahmāstra”)

ขี่ช้างจับตั๊กแตน (kìi-cháang-jàp-dták-gà-dtɛɛn, literally “to ride an elephant to catch a grasshopper”)

when your only tool is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail


elsin

From Middle English aslen, elsen (“an awl or some other pointed instrument or tool”), either from Middle Dutch elsene, alsene, from Old High German alansa, from Proto-Germanic *alasnō, or from an unrecorded Old English form.

(UK, dialect, obsolete) A shoemaker's awl.


eyeleteer

A small, sharp-pointed instrument used in piercing eyelet holes; a stiletto.


scauper

If you can, engrave some scroll work on the silver cap with a sharp scauper

1889, P. Tracy, “Note on Mounting Shark Teeth”, in Science-Gossip:

A tool with a semicircular edge, used by engravers to clear away the spaces between the lines of an engraving.


fudge wheel

you will be able to set a nice, regular stitch by placing the awl carefully into each mark made by the fudge wheel.

1895, Paul N. Hasluck, Boot Making and Mending:

The fudge wheel should be used around the edge of sole to give the job a finished appearance.

A shoemaker's tool used for neatening the double stitches on the welt.


firestriker

firestrikers (plural)
fire striker (alternative)

A piece of high-carbon steel used for striking a spark, usually kept in a tinderbox with flint and tinder.

uror

piece of steel used for striking a spark


air drill

A drill driven by the elastic pressure of condensed air; a pneumatic drill.


cane knife

The stripping, topping, and cutting of the cane are usually accomplished by hand with a cane knife. This implement has a small hook at the tip of the back of the blade that helps in raking or beating off the leaves[…]

1917, Peter A. Yoder, Sugar-cane Culture for Sirup Production in the United States, page 24:

A large hand-wielded cutting tool similar to a machete, used for cutting sugar cane.


meak

From Middle English meeke, probably from Old Norse mækir (“sword”), from Proto-Germanic *mēkijaz. Cognate with Icelandic mækir, Old English mēċe.

A meak for the pease , and to swinge up the brake

1557 February 13 (Gregorian calendar), Thomas Tusser, A Hundreth Good Pointes of Husbandrie, London: […] Richard Tottel, →OCLC; republished London: […] Robert Triphook, […], and William Sancho, […], 1810, →OCLC:

(dialectal or obsolete) A hook with a long handle; scythe.


picktooth

[…]where did you get that Pick-Tooth Caſe?

1731 (date written), Simon Wagstaff [pseudonym; Jonathan Swift], “Dialogue II”, in A Complete Collection of Genteel and Ingenious Conversation, […], London: […] B[enjamin] Motte […], published 1738, →OCLC, page 185:


scratchbrush

If he decide, upon dismounting, that the tyre is punctured, and not merely short of inflation, the car should be jacked up so as to permit free movement of the wheel. The tyre should then be cleaned, the best article for the purpose being a brush with wire bristles; the type is known as a 'jeweller's scratchbrush.

1902, Alfred Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe, Motors and Motor-Driving, Chapter 11:

A sturdy wire brush used for cleaning iron, silver and other metals.


batlet

From bat + -let. Probably a spurious word, in the 20th century reborrowed from word-lists. Both this and batler are only known from the same Shakespeare locus; neither is it known that battler means a fuller’s beetle but him who beetles or “posses” the clothes. However for the meaning of a flat cuboid on a handle to clean textiles by muscles battril, which could be a metathesis of batler, is known to have been used in the Lancashire dialect, such as by Tim Bobbin on multiple occasions.

Clo[wn]. And I mine: I remember when I was in loue, I broke my ſword vpon a ſtone, and bid him take that for comming a night to Iane Smile, and I remember the kiſſing of her batler [var. batlet], and the Cowes dugs that her prettie chopt hands had milk’d; […]

c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iv], page 191, column 2:

These 'batlets', which had of necessity to be made from well-seasoned wood, were evidently prized household items, often intricately carved on the upper surface.

1992, Christina Hardyment, Home Comfort: A History of Domestic Arrangements ; in Association with the National Trust:

"If you come between me and my actions again, I will take a batlet to you." He shoved past her so hard that Dougless nearly fell against the wall, and she watched with a heavy heart as he strode angrily down the path and out through the door ...

2012, Jude Deveraux, A Knight in Shining Armor, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 258:

A short bat for beating clothes when washing them.

John Collier (caricaturist)
Lancashire dialect


feeler gauge

feeler gauges (plural)
feeler gage (alternative)

A set of thin metal strips, of known thickness, used to measure a narrow gap


capping plane

A plane (the tool, not the vehicle) used for working the upper surface of staircase rails. They are relatively rounded


bedkey

There didn't seem to be much furniture in the house, but when we began to move it, it at once seemed to multiply itself with the rapidity of compound interest. We got all the clothes out first, in drawers and clothes-baskets, and tied up in sheets. Eliza wasn't much use. The only thing she could do was to look for a bed-key to unscrew the iron bedsteads; but Oswald and Dicky toiled on.

1905, Edith Nesbit, Oswald Bastable and Others, The arsenicators:

(historical) An instrument for adjusting the tightness of parts of a bedstead.


marteline

A small kind of hammer, once used by marble workers and sculptors.


mouldboard

mouldboards (plural)
moldboard (alternative)

A curved blade on a plough that serves to turn over the furrow.


searce

From Middle English sarse, probably from Anglo-Norman cerche, *cerce, from Late Latin *circa.
Traditionally derived from Old French saas (Late Latin *saetāceus (pannus) (“(cloth) made of bristles”)), but this does not explain the -r- or the final -e of the Middle English form; intrusive -r- before /s/ is sometimes found in Middle English, but one would expect etymological r-less forms to appear alongside such forms.

der

Yet will our selfe overweening sift his divinitie through our searce [translating estamine]: whence are engendred all the vanities and errours wherewith the world is so full-fraught[…].

1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 12, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:

(obsolete, countable) A sieve; a strainer.


searce

en-verb

searce (third-person singular simple present searces, present participle searcing, simple past and past participle searced)

searces (present singular third-person)
searcing (participle present)
searced (participle past)
searced (past)
sarse (alternative)

My next Difficulty was to make a Sieve, or Searſe, to dreſs my meal, and to part it from the Bran and the Huſk, without which I did not ſee it poſſible I could have any Bread. […] I had nothing like the neceſſary Things to make it with—I mean fine thin Canvas, or Stuff, to ſearſe the Meal through.

1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], →OCLC, page 144:

(obsolete) To sift (through a sieve); to bolt.


maundril

The cutting maundrils taper directly from the centre to the points, the holing maundrils are somewhat stronger and bluffer.

1865, Hilary Bauerman, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Geological, Mining, and Metallurgical Models in the Museum of Practical Geology, page 27:

(historical, mining) A pick with two prongs, used for prying.

They must be fitted with lined or double hoops, drawn on maundrils to fit quite tight; the bottom pieces being bored at the joint, and a peg left at the end of the part above to fill it up, so that when put together, all the wood being there, the joint will be as firm as any part of the rod: besides, the wood cannot swell when wet, and can easily be taken to pieces.

1836, John Turton, The angler's manual; or, fly-fisher's oracle, page 1:

Hollow maundrils of metal are used instead of cores to form the internal surfaces of chambers of guns. The maundrils are to be formed accurately to the shape of the surfaces required for the castings, so that subsequent turning and boring may be dispensed with.

1859, Thomas Fairbairn, William Andrew Fairbairn, George Fairbairn, “Improvements in the mode or method of casting ordnance, &c.”, in Abridgments of the Specifications Relating to Fire-arms and Other Weapons, Ammunition, and Accoutrements, page 236:

Alternative form of mandrel.
(round object for shaping material)

The whole cylinder is then placed in the furnace, and brought to a proper welding heat; it is next passed through a series of grooved rollers, the grooves of which are furnished with a maundril, or an egg form, attached to, and supported on, the end of a fixed bar, firmly secured at the opposite end, to resist the end pressure or strain during the process of rolling. The maundrils are made of cast-iron, chilled, and are socketted on the end of the bar, and secured by a screw-nut, so that they may be easily removed, when required.

1853, McConnell, “On Hollow Railway Axles”, in The London journal of arts and sciences, page 365:

The increased facility for dividing and punching the pitch pins on the rollers for engraving by mill and other machines, and in setting out for hand and other engraving, is obtained by an improved method of securing the roller to the maundril. Instead of the usual box maundril made in segments or wedges and coned inside to fit the inside circle of the roller, the roller is fastened on the maundril by a bell chuck or chucks, formed so as to grip the whole outside coated circle of the roller, the chuck being coned inside to receive rollers of different sizes, one of the chucks either forming part of the maundril or not, as required.

1857 May 1, “Barber's Machinery for Mill and Other Engraving Rollers”, in The Engineer, volume 3, page 347:

(tool or component that guides, grips, or clamps)

tool or component that guides; grips; or clamps; tool or component that guides; grips; or clamps


piercel

A kind of gimlet for making vents in casks.


turrel

Compare Old French touroul (“a little wooden instrument to fasten doors or windows”).

cog

If the foreign body is so firmly fixed as to resist traction, or if it is impossible to seize it, we will find it useful, if its composition will permit, to employ a gimlet or turrel, the instrument being introduced by gliding it along the left index finger.

1881, Alfred Poulet, A Treatise on Foreign Bodies in Surgical Practice - Volume 1, page 257:

There were plenty of tools in the carpenter's chest, bags of nails, turrels, screws, and iron nuts and bands of all sorts for repairing the yacht.

1888, Jules Verne, Adrift in Pacific or, Two Years' Vacation:

Guyon (Fig. 145, a, b, c, d ) bores a turrel ( a cooper's tool ) into the vault of the cranium and trephines with the crown of the instrument set over this.

1890, Franz Winckel, A Text-book of obstetrics, page 660:

A tool used primarily by coopers to bore holes.


inshave

A two-handled plane for shaving or hollowing out the inside of barrels.


pointrel

Lay the rough plan upon the clean paper, on which you intend to draw the fair copy, press them close together by weights, and keep them as flat as possible; then with a pointrel, or needle point, prick through all the corners of the plan to be copied.

1803, George Adams, Geometrical and Graphical Essays:


throw-crook

two persons are engaged in the making of one rope with the throw-crook; whereas, with the spinner, four persons are only required to make three ropes

1851, Henry Stephens, The Book of the Farm:

(archaic, agriculture) A tool for twisting ropes out of straw.


bickern

PIE word
 *dwóh₁
From Middle French bigorne.

An anvil with two projecting taper ends.


beak-iron

The taper end of an anvil; also, a bickern.


assistive technology

en-noun

assistive technology (plural assistive technologies)

Umbrella term that includes adaptive, assistive, and rehabilitative devices for people with disabilities.


tire iron

tire irons (plural)
tyre iron (alternative)

A tool used for installing or removing an automotive wheel, in the form of bar made of strong metal, with a chisel end for prying off the hubcap and a socket wrench end for loosening or tightening lug nuts.


thible

(UK, dialect, obsolete) A stick for stirring food.


fromward

en-adj

fromward (comparative more fromward, superlative most fromward)

more fromward (comparative)
most fromward (superlative)
frammard (alternative dialectal)
fromard (alternative dialectal)
frommard (alternative dialectal)
frommart (alternative dialectal)
frommet (alternative dialectal)
frommud (alternative dialectal)
vrammard (alternative dialectal)
vrammerd (alternative dialectal)

From Middle English fromward, framward, from Old English framweard (“about to depart, departing, doomed to die; with his back turned”, adjective) and framweardes (“away from”, adverb), equivalent to from + -ward. Compare froward.

inh

(now dialect, Southern England, Midlands, West Country) Leaning or listing away from; distant from; on the right-hand side; on the opposite side.


fromward

fromwards (plural)
frammard (alternative dialectal)
fromard (alternative dialectal)
frommard (alternative dialectal)
frommart (alternative dialectal)
frommet (alternative dialectal)
frommud (alternative dialectal)
vrammard (alternative dialectal)
vrammerd (alternative dialectal)

(now dialect, Southern England, Midlands, West Country) A cleaving tool; an iron instrument with a blade set at right angles on a short handle, used for splitting laths or rails.


tin snips

My husband spent the next day inside the plane, cutting out an unused gasoline tank, piece by piece, with tin snips.

1934 August 30, “A Fast-Moving Narrative”, in New York Times, Books Section, p. 21:

If you plan to do much work sheet metal, a pair of curved-blade tin snips will save wear and tear on your nerves in the long run.

1957 May 4, “Curved-Blade Snips”, in Calgary Herald, Canada, retrieved 2012-06-28, page 23:

This bend eliminates unsightly waviness that often develops as you cut the copper with a tin snips.

2004 October 24, Tim Carter, “Ask the Builder”, in Telegraph Herald, Iowa, USA, retrieved 2012-06-28, page 5E:

Large, heavily-constructed scissors or shears, operated by hand and used for cutting sheets of metal.


milling cutter

mechanical engineering
mechanical engineering

(mechanical engineering) A rotary cutting tool typically used in milling machines.


tommy

en-verb

tommy (third-person singular simple present tommies, present participle tommying, simple past and past participle tommied)

tommies (present singular third-person)
tommying (participle present)
tommied (participle past)
tommied (past)

Generally agreed to have come from appellativization of Tommy in most senses, but the historical details are apparently largely unknown, including whether such an evolution happened several times (with one sense being independent of another).

(UK, slang, obsolete, transitive) To pay (employees) according to the truck system, with goods instead of money.


jointer plane

joint (“to smooth wooden parts, as before joining them”) + plane (“a woodworker's tool”)

A plane used for final flattening out of wooden surfaces.

fugantka

plane for final flattening out of wooden surfaces


howel

From the same source as German Hobel. Related to Danish høvl and Swedish hyvel.

A tool used by coopers for smoothing and chamfering their work, especially the inside of casks.


mousing hook

A hook with an attachment which prevents its unhooking.


detangler

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-detangler.wav

A conditioner product for removing tangles from hair.

A brush used for removing tangles from hair.

(cycling) A device used with a freestyle BMX bicycle to allow the handlebars to turn 360° without tangling of the brake cables.


niddy-noddy

Origin obscure. Perhaps from niddy (“grandmother”) + noddy, from the nodding motion associated with winding the yarn.

unc

obscure

A tool used to make skeins from yarn, consisting of a central bar with crossbars at each end, offset from each other by 90°.


holy-water sprinkle

en-noun

holy-water sprinkle (plural holy-water sprinkles)

/ˈhəʊliˌwɔːtə ˈspɹɪŋkl̩/

PIE word
 *kéh₂ilos
From Late Middle English haly water spryngelle (“sprinkler for holy water”), from haly water, hōlī water (“water consecrated for use in religious ceremonies”) + sprenkil, springel, spryngelle (“sprinkler for holy water”). By surface analysis, holy water + sprinkle.
Sense 2 (“weapon consisting of a heavy ball set with spikes attached rigidly to a staff”) is from its resemblance to the aspergillum, and apparently from the fact that it scattered blood when it came into contact with a person.

ref

From the collection of the Santa Maria Novella church in Florence, Tuscany, Italy.

From the collection of the museum of the Château de Dinan in Dinan, Brittany, France.

nb...

bookseller, 132, Fleet Street; and sold by all booksellers and news-agents throughout the kingdom.

The weapons, called by Germans "Morgen-stern," and in old English Inventories "holy-water sprinkles," from a certain resemblance to the aspergillum used in churches, are comparatively rare in the armories of this country. […] In the Tower survey of 1547 they are often mentioned; e.g.—'Great holly water sprincles, 118; Holly water sprincles with gonnes in th'ende, 7; Little holly water sprincles, 392; Holly water sprincle with three gonnes in the topp, 1.' The last-named is, without doubt, the club with iron spikes and short fire barrels still exhibited in the tower, with more or less of sensational additamenta relating to Henry VIII.

1547 (date written), “Proceedings at Meetings of the Royal Archeological Institute. November 1, 1867. [Antiquities and Works of Art Exhibited.]”, in The Archaeological Journal, volume XXV, London: Published at the office of the [Royal Archaeological] Institute [of Great Britain and Ireland], published 1868, →OCLC, pages 87–88:

To sprinkle the holy water was the cant-phrase for fetching blood, which will account for the appellation, as there is no resemblance between the weapon so called and the aspergillum. Fig. 1.—A holy-water-sprinkle of the fifteenth century. It is a wooden mallet, bound with iron and furnished with iron spikes. […] Fig. 3.—A petty-holy-water-sprinkle to hand at the saddle bow. The whole, except the handle, is of iron.

1854, Samuel Rush Meyrick, “Plate XCII. Holy-water Sprinkles, &c.”, in Engraved Illustrations of Antient Arms and Armour, from the Collection at Goodrich Court, Herefordshire; […], volume II, London: Henry G[eorge] Bohn [for John Skelton], […], →OCLC:

The horse-chestnuts showed the little green knobs which would soon enlarge and hang all prickly, like the spiked balls of a holy-water sprinkle, such as was once used in the wars.

a. 1888 (date written), Richard Jefferies, “An English Deer-park”, in J[essie] Jefferies, compiler, Field and Hedgerow: Being the Last Essays of Richard Jefferies […], London; New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green, and Co. […], published 1889, →OCLC, page 296:

(by extension, weaponry, historical) A 16th-century weapon consisting of a heavy ball set with spikes attached rigidly to a staff, used mainly in England; a morning star.


jolley

When she had to leave work because of silicosis at the beginning of this century, the period of female makers at jolleys was over, with some insignificant temporary exceptions.

2005, Gertjan De Groot, Women Workers And Technological Change In Europe In The Nineteenth And twentieth century:

(pottery) A concave horizontal lathe used in producing bowls and cups.


bootscraper

An instrument for scraping mud, etc. from the boots.


temse

en-verb

temse (third-person singular simple present temses, present participle temsing, simple past and past participle temsed)

temses (present singular third-person)
temsing (participle present)
temsed (participle past)
temsed (past)
tems (alternative)
tempse (alternative)

From Middle English temse (“a sieve”) and temsen (“to sieve”), both from Old English temsian, temesian (“to sieve; strain; sift”).
Compare also French tamis, Dutch teems, North Frisian tems, Danish dialectal tems (“sieve”), German dialectal Zims (“sieve”). Compare also tamine. Doublet of tamis.


temse

temses (plural)
tems (alternative)
tempse (alternative)

Stone your apricots , coddle them , and rub them through a temse

1777, Elizabeth Marshall, The Young Ladies' Guide in the Art of Cookery:


shool

From Middle English shovele, schovel, showell, shoule, shole (> English dialectal shoul, shool), from Old English sċofl (“shovel”), from Proto-Germanic *skuflō, *skūflō (“shovel”), equivalent to shove + -el (instrumental/agent suffix). Cognate with Scots shuffle, shule, shuil (“shovel”), Saterland Frisian Sköifel (“shovel”), West Frisian skoffel, schoffel (“hoe, spade, shovel”), Dutch schoffel (“spade, hoe”), Low German Schüfel, Schuffel (“shovel”), German Schaufel (“shovel”), Danish skovl (“shovel”), Swedish skyffel, skovel (“shovel”), Icelandic skófla (“shovel”).

2010, Anatoly Liberman, Ari Hoptman, Nathan E. Carlson, “shool spade see shovel”, in A Bibliography of English Etymology, Volumes 1-2, U of Minnesota Press, page 785:


caschrom

caschroms (plural)
cascrom (alternative)

The crooked spade; an implement of tillage peculiar to the Highlands, used for turning the ground where a plough cannot work because of stones.


steel square

A tool used to measure out right angles.


wall chaser

A specialised hand-held power tool used for cutting narrow grooves in walls, for instance when laying electrical cable.


digging fork

A farming tool, with a long straight handle and several short, sturdy tines.


gibbed lathe

(archaic) An engine lathe in which the tool carriage is held down to the bed by a gib instead of by a weight.


fiber gun

A kind of steam gun for converting, wood, straw, etc., into fiber. The material is shut up in the gun with steam, air, or gas at a very high pressure which is then suddenly relieved by letting a lid at the muzzle fly open, when the rapid expansion separates the fibers.


jagging iron

A kitchen implement with a zigzag or sculpted edge for cutting or crimping pie or pastry dough into ornate figures. Commonly a jagging wheel. Seldom literally iron, as rustproof materials are preferred.


pinking iron

An instrument for scalloping the edges of ribbons, flounces, etc.


firing iron

An instrument used in cauterizing, especially on horses.


lighter screw

(engineering, dated) A screw for adjusting the distance between the stones in a grinding mill by raising or lowering the bridgetree.


scaleboard plane

en-noun

scaleboard plane (plural scaleboard planes)

A plane for cutting from a board a wide shaving forming a scaleboard.


maquila

From Spanish maquila, from Andalusian Arabic مَكِيلَة (makíla), from Arabic مَكِيلَة (makīla, “measured”). In reference to factories, via Spanish clipping of maquiladora, from maquilar (“to assemble”) + -adora (“-ator: forming agent nouns”), from maquilar's original sense of taking a toll of grain. Also understood as a clipping within English.

Synonym of medio, half-celemin, a traditional Spanish unit of dry measure equivalent to about 2.3 L.

medio

Synonym of maquiladora, a factory or sweatshop in Latin American and Spanish contexts.


maquila

I would give one of my fingers to have your milord out on the mountains, and each of us with a maquila in his fist.

1903, Prosper Mérimée, translated by Lady Mary Loyd, Carmen, published 1845:

Alternative spelling of makila, a kind of walking stick.


beam compass

a device for creating circular curves, which has a central pivot pin, and an outer curb scribing point, connected by a horizontal beam


framing chisel

A carpenter's heavy chisel with a socket shank for making mortises.


gouge bit

A bit used for boring (making holes) shaped like a gouge.


pod auger

An auger, usually tapered, with a channel, usually with sharp edges, running up the shaft.


wrench hammer

A wrench with the end shaped so that it can be used as a hammer.


apple crook

A hand-held, wooden agricultural implement used in the harvesting of apples.


boot crimp

A frame or device used by bootmakers for drawing and shaping the body of a boot.


boothook

A hook with a handle, used for pulling on boots.


shoe brush

shoe brushes (plural)
shoebrush (alternative)

a brush used to apply shoe polish to shoes, work the polish in and bring up a shine.


bastard file

bastard

hybrid; impure; adjectival form, in the sense of or

A half-round file or rasp (being a flat file on one side, and a round file on the other); typically having coarse teeth.


German bit

A wood-boring tool with a long elliptical pod and a screw point.


saw file

A three-cornered file, such as is used for sharpening saw teeth.


side tool

A cutting tool, used in a lathe or planer, having the cutting edge at the side instead of at the point.


pneumatic drill

pneumatic drill (plural pneumatic drills)

A heavy drill consisting of a bit powered by compressed air, used e.g. for breaking tarmac.


fox wedge

A wedge for expanding the split end of a bolt, cotter, dowel, tenon, or other piece, to fasten the end in a hole or mortise and prevent withdrawal. The wedge abuts on the bottom of the hole and the piece is driven down upon it.


cross file

A double convex file, used in dressing out the arms or crosses of fine wheels.


geometric lathe

geometric lathe (plural geometric lathes)

A lathe that was used for engraving banknotes and postage stamps with complicated patterns of interlacing lines, designed against forgery.


ring spanner

(especially (British)) a spanner with a ring-shaped jaw with internal serrations which grip onto a nut or bolt.


fire beater

A simple tool for fighting wildfires, consisting of a piece of rubber at the end of a pole.


piggle

en-verb

piggle (third-person singular simple present piggles, present participle piggling, simple past and past participle piggled)

piggles (present singular third-person)
piggling (participle present)
piggled (participle past)
piggled (past)

Uncertain. Attested since the nineteenth century. Compare niggle, fiddle.

But of what value is all that piggling, niggling, — you call the little thing piggling, niggling?

1836, Joanna Baillee, The Alienated Manor: A Comedy:


nail punch

a carpenter's tool used to hammer nail heads in to just below the surface of the wood, something that cannot be achieved with a hammer alone.


trolley jack

A hydraulic jack (lifting device) mounted on wheels, and equipped with a long handle which also acts as a pump handle, which can be pulled to wherever it is needed.


bench hook

A device used on a woodworking bench to hold a workpiece in place


phase tester

A device, often built into a screwdriver, used to check for electric current.


grinding stone

2014, Paul Salopek, Blessed. Cursed. Claimed., National Geographic (December 2014)https://web.archive.org/web/20150212214621/http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2014/12/pilgrim-roads/salopek-text
Circular dwellings, grinding stones, stone tools—its village relics date back an astonishing 12,000 years, deep into our nomadic Stone Age.

A stone tool, used with a quern, to grind cereals.


butter paddle

One of a pair of wooden tools used to shape butter into small blocks


sidescraper

sidescrapers (plural)
side-scraper (alternative)
side scraper (alternative)

(archaeology) A Paleolithic stone tool used for scraping.


slice bar

A tool with a broad flat end that is used to rake out a furnace grate.


dehorner

(also in plural form) A device for cutting the horns off an animal's head.

dí-adharcóir

a device for cutting the horns off an animal's head


meat axe

meat axes (plural)
meat ax (alternative)
meataxe (alternative)


wrecking bar

Any of various bars to aid with demolition tasks: prybars or crowbars.


flaker

→ German: Flaker (archive fashion slang)

(archaeology, chemistry, kitchen) A tool or appliance used to break flakes off a piece of material or something into it.


axle stand

a support which can be placed under an axle, subframe or other suitable point when a vehicle is undergoing maintenance.


tushker

1950, British Council, University of Aberdeen, The Viking Congress: Lerwick, July 1950, Issue 132, page 110,
[…] neighbour's and measure the distance of his own by throwing his tushker or peat spade.

1975, School of Scottish Studies, Edinburgh University, Tocher: Tales, Songs, Tradition, Issues 17-23; Issues 25-29, page 38,
I mind [my father] tellin me a story: he wis a young fellow, and he was playin wi a tushker in the burn, cuttin peats, an they were an old man 'at cam up.

'I'm no' holding you back?' I asked, looking at the tushker propped by the door.
'Lass, the peats'll keep. Come you in aboot.'

2014, Marsali Taylor, Death on a Longship, unnumbered page:

Alternative form of tusker (“peat-cutting tool”).


cascrom

cascroms (plural)
caschrom (alternative)

From Scottish Gaelic, from cas (“foot”) + crom (“crooked, bent”).

1843, James Logan, The Scottish Gaël; Or, Celtic Manners: As Preserved Among the Highlanders, 1st American Edition, page 309,
That excellent instrument the cascrom, literally crooked foot, a kind of foot plough, which the Highlanders can manage with great dexterity, and which is too little known,* is still used in mountainous districts, and, from its excellent adaptation to the culture of rugged and steep hills, where a plough cannot be used, is not likely ever to be superseded by any implement.

1866, The St. James's Magazine and United Empire Review, Volume 16: April—July, page 90,
The other was the “cascrom,” a very old Celtic implement, intermediate between the spade and the plough.

And so complete was the carnage within the gloom of the corrie that never a man of the erewhile friendly crofters returned to work the cascrom within the township of Achnashee.

1900, The Badminton Magazine of Sports & Pastimes, volume 10, page 293:

The cascrom, or foot-plough, was at this time unknown in Arran.

1982, W. M. MacKenzie, The Book of Arran: History and Folklore, page 200:

The ‘cascrom’, or crooked spade, was the most important tool for agriculture throughout the Western Isles and major parts of the mainland Highlands.

2007, Martin Rackwitz, Travels to Terra Incognita: The Scottish Highlands and Hebrides in Early Modern Travellers' Accounts c. 1600 to 1800, page 298:

(Scotland, Highlands) A type of foot plough with a crooked spade component, used in the Scottish Highlands.


power drill

power drills (plural)
powerdrill (alternative)

A hand-held drill powered by electric motor.


bott hammer

bott hammers (plural)
bott-hammer (alternative)

The bott-hammer is sometimes used for bruising or crushing fibrous plants; it consists of a wooden block, having on its under face channels or flutings which run across its surface; the block is fixed to a long belt-helve or handle, and may be worked singly, or several hammers may be worked in a row by machinery.

1859, Alex. Hunter, “The Raw Products of India suited to the Manufacturing Wants of Great Britain”, in The Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal, volume 10, page 188:

The same was also effected by the bott hammer, a flat mallet, with its face cut into grooves, the handle to it being curved, and this being repeatedly struck on a quantity of fibre spread out on a board, first on one side and then on the other.

1868, Baden Henry Baden-Powell, Hand-book of the Economic Products of the Punjab, page 500:

In Austria and other European countries a more primitive, but, it is claimed, less injurious method of breaking is pursued, in which the fibre is opened with a "bott hammer" (batting hammer), which is made of wood ridged like a cook's implement for pounding steak.

1918, Frank Moore Colby, The New International Encyclopaedia, volume 8, page 672:

(obsolete) A hammer used to process flax.


nail cutter

nail cutters (plural)
nailcutter (alternative)

a mechanical device used to trim fingernails and toenails


alligator shear

en-noun

alligator shear (plural alligator shears)

From alligator + shear, from the shape of its "jaw" being similar in shape to an alligator's.

A metal-cutting shear with a hinged jaw, powered by a flywheel or hydraulic cylinder.


thatch-rake

thatch-rakes (plural)
thatch rake (alternative)

He gripped his thatch-rake and, swinging it, struck at a tree.

1897, Jerome Klapka Jerome, Robert Barr, Arthur Lawrence, The Idler - Volume 10, page 542:

And of the implements belonging to farming forming armorial bearings, he says some of the chiefest and most frequent are ploughs, harrows, scythes, and wheels. Others not named by Guillim are dung forks, hay-hooks, rakes, sickles, spades, and thatch-rakes.

1898, Edward Walford, John Charles Cox, George Latimer Apperson, The Antiquary - Volume 34, page 177:

... there stand out, imaginatively arranged and mounted, scythes and besoms, wicked-looking hay-knives, two-handed cross-cut tree-felling saws, saddlery and harness-work, ox-yokes and milkmaids' yokes, pitchforks, hay-rakes, ox-horns, antlers, man-traps, wagon-wheels, ploughs and ploughshares, delicately fashioned pony-trap wheels, curved shafts, carriage-lamps, thatch-rakes and goodness-knows-what-else.

1974, Garry Hogg, The English Country Inn, page 50:

A tool for combing the straw or similar material in a thatched roof straight, consisting of a straight bar with curved teeth or points.


thatcher's rake

thatcher's rake (plural thatcher's rakes)

After the thatch is secured on the roof, it is usual in England to make the surface flat and even by beating and combing. This is generally done with a thatcher's rake.

1916, Charles Frederick Innocent, The Development of English Building Construction, page 205:

After being thus secured the surface was beaten flat and, in the case of straw thatch was combed down with a thatcher's rake.

2007, Basil Oliver, The Cottages of England: Country Homes from the 16th to 18th Century, →ISBN:

He exposed a row of teeth that were sharp and gapped like a thatcher's rake.

Synonym of thatch-rake (“tool for combing a thatched roof”).


bone folder

bone folders (plural)
bonefolder (alternative)

A dull-edged hand tool used to fold and crease material in crafts.


Hirsch funnel

(chemistry) This conical shaped Büchner funnel is used for filtering small quantities of material.

Hirschtrichter

a piece of laboratory equipment used in filtration


ring wrench

(especially (US)) a wrench with a ring-shaped jaw with internal serrations which grip onto a nut or bolt.


enoch

Named after a blacksmith Enoch Taylor of Marsden, Yorkshire. Used by Luddites to smash cropping machines, Taylor made sledgehammers and also the machine frames which sparked riots: "Enoch made them. Enoch shall break them".

Each swung cast-iron Enoch of Leeds stress
clangs a forged music on the frames of Art,
the looms of owned language smashed apart!

1987 [1981], Tony Harrison, “On Not Being Milton”, in Continuous: 50 sonnets from 'The School of Eloquence' (Poetry), London: Rex Collins, →ISBN:

(dialect, Yorkshire) an iron sledgehammer


air hammer

(engineering, construction) A hammer powered by compressed air.


mole plough

mole ploughs (plural)
mole plow (alternative)

So called because the tip describes a path much like the burrow that a mole creates.

A kind of subsoiler with a torpedo-shaped tip.


work-tool

work-tools (plural)
worktool (alternative)

If the task demands require impossible arrangements of worktools, is the workstation or technology support designed so the user may easily relocate items on a short-term basis to support ongoing work?

2016, Michael J. O'Neill, Measuring Workplace Performance, Second Edition, page 312:

An implement used in performing or completing a specific job or task


Dremel

US brand name. Originally developed by Albert J. Dremel.

A hand-held rotary tool with various attachments.


Dremel

en-verb

Dremel (third-person singular simple present Dremels, present participle Dremelling, simple past and past participle Dremelled)

Dremels (present singular third-person)
Dremelling (participle present)
Dremelled (participle past)
Dremelled (past)

(rare) To cut or grind with such a tool.


Stillson

(pipe wrench): After the American inventor Daniel Chapman Stillson.

Stillson wrench, pipe wrench, monkey wrench


dead-stroke hammer

en-noun

dead-stroke hammer (plural dead-stroke hammers)

A power hammer having a spring interposed between the driving mechanism and the hammer head, or helve, to lessen the recoil of the hammer and reduce the shock upon the mechanism.


pair of scissors

pair of scissors (plural pairs of scissors)

From Middle English paire of Sesurys, pare of cisurs, payr of sesurs, payr of sisurs, peir sisours, peyre cysours, peyre of sysers.

A tool used for cutting thin material, consisting of two crossing blades attached at a pivot point in such a way that the blades slide across each other when the handles are closed


dipsector

An instrument for observing the dip of the horizon.


increment borer

increment borer (plural increment borers)

A tool with a handle and an auger bit, used to extract a section of tissue from a living tree with relatively minor injury to the plant.


bath scraper

A tool of Middle Eastern origin, traditionally made of clay, used in the bath to exfoliate dead skin.


disc harrow

(agriculture) A harrow comprising a series of angled discs


trilabe

From tri- + Ancient Greek λαβή (labḗ, “handle”).

A three-pronged surgical instrument for removing calculi from the bladder.


buzzie

Dredging wasn't mining. A man had to know something about lode mining, and could Andy name a man working on the boat who knew a muckstick from a buzzie?

1950, Helen Rich, The Willow-bender: A Novel, page 236:

Both buzzies were broke down. Burke left me alone to do my work. I disconnected teh compressed-air lines, opened my tool box and got at it.

1980, Donald McCaig, The Butte Polka: A Novel, page 114:

Technology such as steam-powered hoists and "buzzies," hand-held, two-man air drills, speeded up production but did nothing to improve working conditions. The buzzies, in fact, produced so much fine dust that they led to a higher rate of silicosis, a debilitating respiratory disease, and were soon dubbed "widowmakers."

2006, Clemens P. Work, Darkest Before Dawn: Sedition and Free Speech in the American West, →ISBN:

(mining, slang) A hand-held pneumatic drill used in mining.


moot-axe

The total area within the Romano-British fortress is perhaps three acres, and the fact that the explorer is no longer young and was single-handed quite precluded any extensive trenching in the hard and stony soil with no implements other than a shovel, a small spade and a moot-axe.

1919, J. Allen Bartlett, “Report on a Search for the Site of the Chapel of St. Blasius, Henbury”, in Edwin Sidney Hartland, editor, Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society, volume 41, page 164:

(West Country) An specialised axe for cutting tree stumps.


slickem

slickem (countable and uncountable, plural slickems)

Whitey Hermanson's Leatherneck son thought that his dad's car could get along on iron rations, or whatever Marines carry to their landing with situations in hand, forgot to put some slickem in the case for the turn-arounds, and that knocked the babbit outa the gadgets.

1942, Typographical Journal - Volume 101, page 769:

The ice I haven't really met yet, but it looks like that could be overcome with some slickem on the airplane and a careful check with . . .

1956, Air Facts: The Magazine of Safe Flying - Volume 19, page 47:

If a manufacturer makes a gun, he knows that it may kill, and the government that buys it knows it, too. If the government buys a stun gun, or a 'slickem' to cause vehicles to skid, who is to blame if fatalities result?

1996, Jane's Defence Contracts: A Jane's Defence Weekly Publication:

In the case of United Shield, these items were acquired through civilian sources and not through a DOD program because none existed. Other examples include a fluid called "slickem" that causes a loss of traction.

2000 January, Paul S Patterson Jr, “Should DOD Integrate Nonlethal and Lethal Weapons Program”, in Defense Technical Information Center:

A superlubricant packet or spray that can be used to reduce traction on surfaces or as a lubricant.


come-along

The martial arts teach thousands of come-along holds.

2006, Mike Young, Martial Arts Techniques for Law Enforcement, →ISBN, page 155:

Marines use a come-along hold to control and move an opponent.

2011, United States Marine Corps, U.S. Marine Close Combat Fighting Handbook, →ISBN:

She flew at him and they went down hard on the floor, Gemma on top. Swiftly, she twisted his right arm back, attempting a vicious come-along hold, but as she did and Tolmacheff roared in pain, something slammed into the back of her head, sending her sprawling along the corridor.

2012, Gabrielle Lord -, Death By Beauty: A PI Gemma Lincoln Novel, →ISBN:

A type of hold used to restrain an opponent.


heat gun

A device used to emit a stream of hot air.


3D pen

(art) A pen-like tool which melts a special thread into three-dimensional models (3D statues).


tyre lever

(British spelling) Alternative form of tire lever


slash hook

(especially Ireland) A sickle or grasshook: an agricultural tool for cutting away small vegetation.


Halligan bar

Halligan bars (plural)
halligan bar (alternative)

Named after its designer, New York City firefighter Hugh Halligan, in 1948.

A firefighter's multipurpose tool for breaking down doors, etc., having a claw (or fork), a blade, and a tapered pick.


putty knife

A hand tool with a flexible blade used by glaziers to apply putty to seal window panes to the frame and mullions.

couteau à mastic

a hand tool with a flexible blade used by glaziers to apply putty to seal window panes to the frame and mullions

A similar tool with a wide, flat blade used by painters, plasterers, and carpenters to spread putty to fill holes and cracks.

couteau à enduire

a similar tool with a wide, flat blade used by painters, plasterers, and carpenters to spread putty to fill holes and cracks


groziers

Pliers with serrated jaws, one curved and one flat, used by glaziers to break and finish glass in a controlled manner.


thinning scissors

A type of scissors used in hairdressing, having a serrated edge and used to reduce the bulk of a section of hair rather than the length.


drawing knife

A knife with a handle at each end, used for shaving hoops for barrels by drawing it towards oneself.


elshin

D'ye think I was born to sit here brogging an elshin through bend-leather, when sic men as Duncan Forbes, and that other Arniston chield there, without muckle greater parts, if the close-head speak true, than mysell, maun be presidents

1818 July 25, Jedediah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], Tales of My Landlord, Second Series, […] (The Heart of Mid-Lothian), volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Company, →OCLC:


shank-iron

(shoemaking) A shaping tool for the shanks of a shoe.


cutterhead

The cutterhead, weighing 160 tonnes and with a ten-metre diameter, was moved by road in September.

2022 December 14, Paul Stephen, “Network News: HS2's Dorothy starts to dig second tunnel bore”, in RAIL, number 972, page 22:

A rotating cylindrical cutting tool located at the head of a drill, boring machine, or the like.


pair of pincers

pair of pincers (plural pairs of pincers)

A gripping tool, pivoted like a pair of scissors, but with blunt jaws.


pair of tongs

A tool used for picking things up without touching them with the hands or fingers, consisting of two slats or grips hinged at the end or in the middle, and sometimes including a spring to open the grips.


screw wrench

A tool for grasping the flat sides of the heads of large screws.


tool stone

(archaeology) A stone used to manufacture other stone tools


pickle fork

ref

By John R. Towers, c. 1936, from the collection of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., USA.

ball-and-socket joint
ball-and-socket joint

A long-handled tool with two prongs used to unseat ball-and-socket joints.


toffee hammer

A very small hammer designed for breaking up sheets or slabs of hard toffee.


stump grinder

A piece of heavy equipment that removes tree stumps by means of a rotating cutting disc that chips away the wood.


scorp

A woodworking tool for roughing out concave shapes such as bowls and spoons.


power harrow

the brothers would laboriously turn over lifeless slabs of clay, which needed to be pulverised with a power harrow before sowing could begin

2020 February 25, Christopher de Bellaigue, “The end of farming?”, in The Guardian:

A tractor-mounted, harrowing tool that runs off power from the tractor's power take-off.


lockback

A type of folding knife in which the blade locks in its extended position by means of a lock on the back of the handle that is released by pressing on a portion of the locking arm or lever (that is, the means of release is likewise on the back of the handle).


clothes iron

A hand-held device with a heated flat metal base used to smooth out wrinkles in clothes.


pippin file

A kind of file (rasping tool) for work with keys such as impressioning.


pair of forceps

en-noun

pair of forceps (plural pairs of forceps)


pair of tweezers

pair of tweezers (plural pairs of tweezers)

Tweezers; an instrument for grasping and handling small objects.


scribing block

scribing blocks (plural)
scriber block (alternative)

A scribing block is seldom dispensed with in the amateur's workshop, excepting in cases where its very existence is unknown.

1883 July, “Surface Gauges or Scribing Blocks”, in Amateur Mechanics, page 213:

By testing various parts of a line with the scribing block let the boys see that the line drawn is parallel to the surface plate.

1903, J. S. Miller, Teacher's Handbook of Manual Training: Metal Work, page 29:

The operation is to move the scribing block from end to end of the work and on both sides of it, packing it up until the upper surface is level, taking care, if the work does not lie level and steady upon the table, to insert wedges in the necessary places so that the work will lie firmly and not move during the operation of marking.

2013, Joshua Rose, The Complete Practical Machinist, page 322:

(metalworking) A device for scribing (marking) lines at a specific height from the base of an object, prior to machining.


winnowing fork

winnowing forks (plural)
winnowing-fork (alternative)

A pitchfork used to winnow rice or grain from the chaff.

مِذْرًى

fork used to winnow — see also winnowing shovel

winnowing shovel

used the same, perhaps using first the fork and in the second run the shovel


winnowing shovel

winnowing shovel (plural winnowing shovels)

winnowing shovels (plural)
winnowing-shovel (alternative)

A shovel used to winnow rice or grain from the chaff.

مِذْرًى

shovel used to winnow — see also winnowing fork


crimping tool

(electricity) A tool used to crimp, to join two pieces of metal.


electric shaver

electric shaver (plural electric shavers)

Any of various electric tools for shaving.


coalrake

A rake used to stir the coals / ashes in a furnace or oven


Exacto knife

From the brand name X-Acto, from exact. That brand pioneered the form factor. This form of the name is a genericization, but the trademark is still active.

(informal) A type of utility knife that has small, nonretracting, interchangeable blades.


grinding wheel

A competing branch argues, in turn, that crime policy—policing policy in particular—has become more punitive given the heightened power of penal bureaucrats together with the diminished influence of the persons and populations most often subject to the grinding wheels of penal administration.

2021, Trevor George Gardner, “By Any Means: A Philosophical Frame for Rulemaking Reform in Criminal Law”, in Yale Law Journal Forum, page 800:

(figurative, by extension) Something that wears down or harms by attrition.


wire stripper

A small, hand-held device used to strip the electrical insulation from electric wires.

клещи заголвачки

small device to strip the insulation from electric wires


sawzall

reciprocating saw
reciprocating saw#English

A kind of reciprocating saw, a tool like a thick long bladed electric jigsaw used to saw through most things, favored for demolition.


fork hoe

/ˈfɔːk ˌhəʊ/

A hoe with two or more tines at right angles to the shaft, typically used to loosen the soil for planting or sowing.


Paxton hoe

A kind of hoe with a rounded rectangular blade.


Italian hoe

The typical farming and gardening hoe with a heavy, broad blade and straight edge.


plumber wrench

plumber wrench (plural plumber wrenches)

Other type of pipe wrench used to rotate plumbing pipes.


combination pliers

(US, UK) A type of pliers used by linemen, electricians, and other tradesmen primarily for gripping, twisting, bending and cutting wire, cable and small metalwork components.


lineman's pliers

(US) A type of pliers used by linemen, electricians, and other tradesmen primarily for gripping, twisting, bending and cutting wire, cable and small metalwork components.


plier wrenches

tongue-and-groove pliers
tongue-and-groove pliers

An adjustable hand tool with a sliding mechanism, that combines a tongue-and-groove pliers / water pump pliers with an adjustable spanner. It is a water pump pliers with a flat head.


pipe cutter

pipe cutters (plural)
pipecutter (alternative)

→ Japanese: パイプカッタ (paipu katta)

A hand-held tool used by plumbers to cut pipe.


throatless shear

throatless shear (plural throatless shears)

From the absence of a throat down which the metal being cut must be fed, a feature that allows metal to be freely moved around the cutting blade.

A cutting tool used to make complex straight and curved cuts in sheet metal.


adjustable pliers

A type of pliers used by plumbers that can be quickly changed in size and is primarily used for tightening nuts on water pipes.


tongue-and-groove pliers

tongue-and-groove pliers pl (plural only)

adjustable pliers
adjustable pliers#English


Swedish wrench

Swedish wrench (plural Swedish wrenches)


hataki

A tool used for cleaning surfaces of dust, made of cloth strips attached to a pole.


hair iron

A tool that uses heat to curl, straighten, or crimp a person's head of hair.


netting-needle

...the visitant was by no means new to the world, and knew perfectly well that Lady Anne had no more parliamentary influence than the netting-needle she was playing with...

1842, [anonymous collaborator of Letitia Elizabeth Landon], chapter LV, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, pages 81–82:

A long needle with pincers used for winding thread for the production of netting.

snáthadán

long needle with pincers used in the production of netting


spoke wrench

A wrench or tool used to adjust the tension in the spokes of a tension-spoked wheel, such as a typical bicycle wheel.

nippeliavain

tool for adjusting the tension of a wheel


nipple wrench

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-nipple wrench.wav


nail header

nail headers (plural)
nailheader (alternative)

A convex (or flat) piece of iron with hole(s) in it, used by a blacksmith in production of iron nails.

A machine used in industrial nail production.

A nail heading machine used for making nail heads.


sokha

Borrowed from Russian соха́ (soxá), from Proto-Slavic *soxa.

As stony soil predominates, and as it is necessary in many localities to plough lands cleared of forest, special types of implements have been invented in Russia, namely the sokha and the borona-smyk.

1893, “XII. Farming machines and implements”, in J. M. Crawford, editor, The Industries of Russia, volume III:

Moreover, the methods of cultivation were suited to either slash and burn or to field tillage with the sokha.

1977, Robert E. F. Smith, “The Elements of the Peasant Household”, in Peasant Farming in Muscovy:

(historical) Russian ard (a type of wooden plough with high, horizontal draft-poles and usually two metal-tipped ploughshares, originating in Northern Russia in medieval times and widely used in Russia and nearby countries until the early 20th century)


butter measure

A portable device designed for sampling grain and checking the quality of butter.


gangplow

gangplows (plural)
gang plow (alternative)
gang-plow (alternative)
gangplough (alternative UK)
gang plough (alternative UK)
gang-plough (alternative UK)

From gang (“a combination of tools or machines coordinated to work together as a set”) + plow (“a farm implement used to break up soil into furrows for sowing”).

af

A plow with multiple plowshares, moldboards, and colters, arranged in a series to turn parallel furrows simultaneously.

A combination of several plows with blades in one frame, operated as a machine.


gangplough

gangploughs (plural)
gang plough (alternative)
gang-plough (alternative)
gangplow (alternative US)
gang plow (alternative US)
gang-plow (alternative US)

From gang (“a combination of tools or machines coordinated to work together as a set”) + plough (“a farm implement used to break up soil into furrows for sowing”).

A plough with multiple plowshares, mouldboards, and coulters, arranged in a series to turn parallel furrows simultaneously.

A combination of several ploughs with blades in one frame, operated as a machine.


perloir

An instrument for making bead-shaped ornaments.


pinch bar

With only one side working, and an up grade of 1 in 260, she wouldn't start. Mitchell told his fireman to try her with a pinch bar, so Richardson crossed over to Andrew Maxwell, a Glasgow driver, who was waiting with his engine on the up line, and borrowed a pinch bar from him. But she wouldn't start with the pinch bar, […].

1950 January, David L. Smith, “A Runaway at Beattock”, in Railway Magazine, page 53:


nutdriver

nutdrivers (plural)
nut driver (alternative)

From nut + driver, attested since circa 1900 and widespread in various industries since the 1920s; modeled on the earlier screwdriver.

A hand tool for driving nuts and bolts; similar to a screwdriver but with a different tip, usually a hexagonal socket (recess) for driving fasteners with external hexagonal heads. Suitable for low- and medium-torque applications.


nut driver

From nut + driver; for more, see nutdriver.


nutsetter

A tool for driving nuts and bolts; similar to a nutdriver but without a handle, whereas it is instead in the form of a bit that is chucked into a power tool or an indexable handle.


framing hammer

(carpentry) A form of a claw hammer used for heavy wood construction, particularly house framing and concrete formwork.


tube cutter

tube cutters (plural)
tubecutter (alternative)

→ Japanese: チューブカッタ (chūbu katta)

A hand-held tool used by plumbers to cut tubes.


bog chisel

(Antarctica) A tool consisting of a chisel-like blade with a long handle, used to probe snow and ice.


dingle stick

A forked stick used to hold meat or a pot over a campfire.


digging bar

Instead, he went after his digging bar. […] It looks like a long iron bar but is made of tempered steel. It's about 5 feet long, 1½ inches in diameter, and weighs about 25 pounds.

1997, Nancy Ross Hugo, Earth Works. Readings for Backyard Gardeners, →ISBN, page 160:

A long metal bar with a pointed or wedge-shaped end, used for digging post holes, breaking or loosening hard materials, or as a lever for dislodging heavy objects.


xylospongium

en-noun

xylospongium (plural xylospongia or xylospongiums)

xylospongia (plural)
xylospongiums (plural)

From Latin xylospongium, from Ancient Greek ξῠλοσπόγγῐον (xŭlospóngĭon), diminutive of ξῠλόσπογγος (xŭlóspongos). By surface analysis, xylo- (“wood”) + sponge.

der

ξῠλοσπόγγῐον

surf

A Greek and Roman utensil consisting of a sea sponge fixed to the end of a wooden stick, typically thought to have been used for anal hygiene or as a toilet brush.