tool

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A device you hold and use to do a particular job.

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

2. 2
   noun

   Anything that helps you do or achieve something.

   Language is a powerful tool for sharing ideas.

3. 3
   noun

   A program used to build software or perform technical tasks.

   The engineer developed several tools to test the code.

4. 4
   noun

   A person who is used or controlled by someone else.

   She was just a tool of the powerful lobby.

Common collocations

• tool kit Noun + noun

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 us…

Topics

External links

• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary
• Google Images