tool

Several prehistoric tools, including a stone ax, were found during the dig.

A screwdriver is a tool that no household should be without.

A stapler is a tool for attaching papers to others.

en:mechanical device intended to make a task easier

Any mechanical device meant to ease or do a task.

the tools of the trade

Rakes, shovels, hoes, and spades are some of the tools of the gardener's trade.

I don't have the right tools to start fiddling around with the engine.

A timing light is a tool that only an automotive mechanic, professional or amateur, would have.

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.

2012 March 6, Brian Hayes, “Pixels or Perish”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, archived from the original on 2013-02-19, page 106:

Any piece of equipment used in a profession, such as a craftsman's.

Idleness is a tool of the devil.

A spreadsheet app and a bookkeeping app are some of the principal tools of a bookkeeper.

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.

1867, The Masonic Trowel, volume 6, page 44:

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.

2013 July-August, Catherine Clabby, “Focus on Everything”, in American Scientist, archived from the original on 2017-05-11:

Anything that aids someone to perform an operation; an instrument; a means.

The software engineer had been developing lots of EDA tools.

a tool for recovering deleted files from a disk

(computing) A piece of software used to develop software or hardware, or to perform low-level operations.

She was a tool of the pharmaceutical lobby.

He was a tool of a foreign influence operation.

A person or group which is used or controlled, usually unwittingly, by another person or group.

a five-tool player

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."

2007 November 7, Mark Bechtel, “"there's Something Fun About Yooouuuk"”, in Sports Illustrated, archived from the original on 2008-10-14:

(baseball) A particular skill pertaining to baseball (such as hitting, running, etc.).

Or haue wee some strange Indian with the great Toole, come to Court, the women so besiege vs?

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[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iv], page 231:

She wanna hang with the goons
She wanna party midnight till noon
She wanna play with my tool

2019 January 2, Burna Bandz, “Goons” (track 13), in Compact Burna:

(vulgar, informal) A penis, notably with a sexual or erotic connotation.

He won't sell us tickets because it's 3:01, and they went off sale at 3. That guy's such a tool.

(by extension, vulgar, slang, derogatory) An obnoxious or uptight person.

In my city keep a tool
Lil nigga you know the rules

(slang, Canada, US, MTE, MLE, and possibly wider) A handgun.

instrument

person or group used or controlled by another

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").


tool

(transitive) To work on or shape with tools, e.g., hand-tooled leather.

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.

1965, Matt Fichtenbaum, Dan Murphy, “The Institute Screw”, in The Broadside of Boston, volume III, number 22:

Dude, he's not your friend. He's just tooling you.

(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.

(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).

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."

(transitive, UK, slang, dated) To carry or convey in a coach or other vehicle.

March 8, 1890, Byron P. Stephenson, "My Trip to Brazil", in Illustrated American
boys on their bicycles tooling along the well-kept roads

These are the guys that tool around in Mercedes Sprinter vans with equipment lockers stuffed with everything from riot helmets to tasers.

2011, Ben Aaronovitch, Rivers of London, Gollancz, published 2011, page 324:

(intransitive, slang) To travel in a vehicle; to ride or drive.

en-verb

tool (third-person singular simple present tools, present participle tooling, simple past and past participle tooled)

tools (present singular third-person)
tooling (participle present)
tooled (participle past)
tooled (past)

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