awl
pronunciation
How to pronounce awl in British English:
UK [ɔ:l]
How to pronounce awl in American English:
US [ɔl]
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- Noun:
- a pointed tool for marking surfaces or for punching small holes
Word Origin
- awl
- awl: [OE] The Old English form, æl, came from a hypothetical Germanic base *āl-, which had a probable relative in Sanskrit ārā. The compound bradawl was formed in the 19th century using the term brad ‘thin flat nail’, which came originally from Old Norse broddr ‘spike’. Awls, tools for making holes to take nails, are part of the shoemaker’s traditional set of implements: hence the apparently quite recent, early 20thcentury rhyming slang cobbler’s awls (cobblers for short) for ‘balls’.
- awl (n.)
- Old English æl "awl, piercer," from Proto-Germanic *ælo (cognates: Old Norse alr, Dutch aal, Middle Low German al, Old High German äla, German Ahle), which is of uncertain origin. Earliest references are to piercing of the ears, though later it was associated with shoemakers. Through misdivision, frequently written 15c.-17c. as nawl (for an awl; see N).
Example
- 1. Truth , like an awl , bags can not hide .
- 2. Baba mustapha was seated with an awl in his hand , just going to work .
- 3. Just started doing this , nan cunhui is often an awl punctured hand , he did not complain , tears to work well , won the customers favor , to win back .
- 4. Then you shall take an awl and pierce it through his ear into the door , and he shall be your servant forever .
- 5. Then you shall take an awl and run it through his ear and into the door , and he shall be your servant forever ; and thus also shall you do to your female servant .