FluentPlex

tool

/tul/ noun A1
  1. Any physical device meant to ease or do a task. · Several prehistoric tools, including a stone ax, were found during the dig.· A screwdriver is a tool that no household should be without.
  2. Any piece of equipment used in a profession, such as a craftsman's. · the tools of the trade· Rakes, shovels, hoes, and spades are some of the tools of the gardener's trade.
  3. Anything that aids someone to perform an operation; an instrument; a means. · A spreadsheet app and a bookkeeping app are some of the principal tools of a bookkeeper.
  4. A piece of software used to develop software or hardware, or to perform low-level operations. · The software engineer had been developing lots of EDA tools.· a tool for recovering deleted files from a disk
  5. A person or group which is used or controlled, usually unwittingly, by another person or group, a pawn. · She was a tool of the pharmaceutical lobby.· He was a tool of a foreign influence operation.
  6. A particular skill pertaining to baseball (such as hitting, running, etc.). · a five-tool player
  7. A penis, notably with a sexual or erotic connotation. (informal)
  8. An obnoxious or uptight person. (slang) · He won't sell us tickets because it's 3:01, and they went off sale at 3. That guy's such a tool.

Plural tools

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From the library

He meant in the end to have the estate, and he was ready to use any tool or run any risk for that end.
The Hound of the Baskervilles, p. 205 · C1
A VIPER, entering the workshop of a smith, sought from the tools the means of satisfying his hunger.
Three Hundred Aesop's Fables, p. 96 · B2
And when the tinsmiths came, bringing with them all their tools in baskets, she inquired, “Can you straighten out those dents in the Tin Woodman, and bend him back into shape again, and solder him together where he is broken?”
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, p. 91 · B2
More than a year had been consumed in this undertaking, the only tools for which had been a chisel, a knife, and a wooden lever; Faria still continuing to instruct Dantès by conversing with him, sometimes in one language, sometimes in another; at others, relating to him the history of nations and great men who from time to time have risen to fame and trodden the path of glory.
The Count of Monte Cristo, p. 175 · C1

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Words, meanings, pronunciations and translations from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); how common each word is from wordfreq. Made into this dictionary by FluentPlex.