tool
pronunciation
How to pronounce tool in British English:
UK [tuːl]
How to pronounce tool in American English:
US [tuːl]
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- Noun:
- an implement used in the practice of a vocation
- the means whereby some act is accomplished
- a person who is controlled by others and is used to perform unpleasant or dishonest tasks for someone else
- obscene terms for penis
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- Verb:
- drive
- ride in a car with no particular goal and just for the pleasure of it
- furnish with tools
- work with a tool
Word Origin
- tool
- tool: [OE] A tool is etymologically an implement used to ‘make’ something. It came from a prehistoric Germanic *tōwlam. This was derived from a base *tōw-, *taw-, which produced a variety of other words with the general sense ‘make, prepare, do’ (most of them have now died out, but survivors include Dutch touwen and English taw ‘make leather’).=> taw, tow
- tool (n.)
- Old English tol "instrument, implement used by a craftsman or laborer, weapon," from Proto-Germanic *to(w)lam "implement" (cognates: Old Norse tol), from a verb stem represented by Old English tawian "prepare" (see taw). The ending is the instrumental suffix -el (1). Figurative sense of "person used by another for his own ends" is recorded from 1660s. Slang meaning "penis" first recorded 1550s.
- tool (v.)
- "to drive a vehicle," 1812, probably from tool (n.) as if "to manage skillfully." The meaning "to work or shape with a tool" is recorded from 1815; that of "equip (a factory) with machine tools" is from 1927. Related: Tooled; tooling.
Example
- 1. Social networking is just a digital tool .
- 2. Lighting is another tool that can help create depth .
- 3. Reading can be a highly effective tool .
- 4. As a tool for a totalitarian government interested in the behaviour social activities and thought-process of its subjects the internet is just about perfect .
- 5. Quitting isn 't a negotiation tool .