Library / English Dictionary

TOOL

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

The means whereby some act is accomplished

Example:

science has given us new tools to fight disease

Synonyms:

instrument; tool

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("tool" is a kind of...):

agency; means; way (thing or person that acts to produce a particular effect or achieve an end)

Sense 2

Meaning:

An implement used in the practice of a vocation

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("tool" is a kind of...):

implement (instrumentation (a piece of equipment or tool) used to effect an end)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "tool"):

swage; upset (a tool used to thicken or spread metal (the end of a bar or a rivet etc.) by forging or hammering or swaging)

tap (a tool for cutting female (internal) screw threads)

tamp; tamper; tamping bar (a tool for tamping (e.g., for tamping tobacco into a pipe bowl or a charge into a drill hole etc.))

style; stylus (a pointed tool for writing or drawing or engraving)

strickle (a tool used in a foundry to shape a mold in sand)

shaping tool (a tool for shaping metal)

saw set (a tool used to bend each alternate sawtooth at a slight angle outward)

rounder (a tool for rounding corners or edges)

ram (a tool for driving or forcing something by impact)

rake (a long-handled tool with a row of teeth at its head; used to move leaves or loosen soil)

punch; puncher (a tool for making holes or indentations)

power tool (a tool driven by a motor)

plough; plow (a farm tool having one or more heavy blades to break the soil and cut a furrow prior to sowing)

muller; pestle; pounder (a heavy tool of stone or iron (usually with a flat base and a handle) that is used to grind and mix material (as grain or drugs or pigments) against a slab of stone)

paleolith (a stone tool from the Paleolithic age)

neolith (a stone tool from the Neolithic Age)

Jaws of Life (hydraulic tool inserted into a wrecked vehicle and used to pry the wreckage apart in order to provide access to people trapped inside)

jack (tool for exerting pressure or lifting)

hoe (a tool with a flat blade attached at right angles to a long handle)

hand tool (a tool used with workers' hands)

hack (a tool (as a hoe or pick or mattock) used for breaking up the surface of the soil)

grapnel; grapple; grappler; grappling hook; grappling iron (a tool consisting of several hooks for grasping and holding; often thrown with a rope)

garden tool; lawn tool (used for working in gardens or yards)

gang (tool consisting of a combination of implements arranged to work together)

fork (an agricultural tool used for lifting or digging; has a handle and metal prongs)

eolith (a crude stone artifact (as a chipped flint); possibly the earliest tools)

drill (a tool with a sharp point and cutting edges for making holes in hard materials (usually rotating rapidly or by repeated blows))

cutting implement (a tool used for cutting or slicing)

comb (any of several tools for straightening fibers)

clincher (a tool used to clinch nails or bolts or rivets)

bender (a tool for bending)

abradant; abrader (a tool or machine used for wearing down or smoothing or polishing)

Derivation:

tool (work with a tool)

tool (furnish with tools)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Obscene terms for penis

Synonyms:

cock; dick; pecker; prick; putz; shaft; tool

Classified under:

Nouns denoting body parts

Hypernyms ("tool" is a kind of...):

member; penis; phallus (the male sex organ ('member' is a euphemism))

Domain usage:

dirty word; filth; obscenity; smut; vulgarism (an offensive or indecent word or phrase)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A person who is controlled by others and is used to perform unpleasant or dishonest tasks for someone else

Synonyms:

creature; puppet; tool

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("tool" is a kind of...):

slave (a person who is owned by someone)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Work with a tool

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Hypernyms (to "tool" is one way to...):

process; work; work on (shape, form, or improve a material)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

tool (an implement used in the practice of a vocation)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Ride in a car with no particular goal and just for the pleasure of it

Example:

We tooled down the street

Synonyms:

joyride; tool; tool around

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "tool" is one way to...):

ride (be carried or travel on or in a vehicle)

Verb group:

tool (drive)

Domain category:

driving (the act of controlling and steering the movement of a vehicle or animal)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Sense 3

Meaning:

Drive

Example:

The convertible tooled down the street

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "tool" is one way to...):

drive (operate or control a vehicle)

Verb group:

joyride; tool; tool around (ride in a car with no particular goal and just for the pleasure of it)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Something is ----ing PP

Sense 4

Meaning:

Furnish with tools

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Hypernyms (to "tool" is one way to...):

furnish; provide; render; supply (give something useful or necessary to)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

tool (an implement used in the practice of a vocation)

Credits

 Context examples: 

A tool to assess response to therapy in clinical trials for chronic Graft versus Host Disease (cGVHD).

(NIH Consensus Response Criteria for cGVHD, NCI Thesaurus)

A program that gives a computer instructions that provide the user with tools to accomplish a task.

(Computer Application, NCI Thesaurus)

Report coming directly from patients or subjects through interviews or self-completed questionnaires or other data capture tools such as diaries about their life, health condition(s) and treatment.

(Patient Self-Report, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)

“You won’t cut that metal with any tool.”

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A benzimidazole antifilarial agent; it is fluorescent when it binds to certain nucleotides in DNA, thus providing a tool for the study of DNA replication; it also interferes with mitosis.

(Pibenzimol, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

The old man returned to the cottage, and the youth, with tools different from those he had used in the morning, directed his steps across the fields.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

It is used as a research tool.

(Parachloroamphetamine, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

“I’ve had ’em in fourteen actions, and up to thirty yards you couldn’t wish a better tool.”

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Any one of several evaluation/assessment tools used to ascertain a patient's level of pain.

(Pain Assessment Tool, NCI Thesaurus)

A tool that helps a person with a disability to do a certain task.

(Assistive device, NCI Dictionary)