trowel

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a mason's hand tool with a flat metal blade, used to spread and shape mortar or plaster

   The mason smoothed the fresh mortar with a steel trowel.

2. 2
   noun

   a small garden tool with a curved, scoop-shaped blade for digging and moving soil

   Use a hand trowel to make a shallow hole for each seedling.

3. 3
   verb

   to apply, spread, or smooth a substance with a trowel

   Workers troweled plaster over the repaired wall.

From Middle English trowel through Old French truelle, from Late Latin truella, a diminutive of Latin trua, 'ladle.' The scoop-like shape explains the transfer from a small ladle to a builder's or gardener's tool.

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