tool
/tul/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.56 in modern English
4
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
3
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A person or group which is used or controlled, usually unwittingly, by another person or group, a pawn.
noun
A particular skill pertaining to baseball (such as hitting, running, etc.).
Example Sentences
- "Several prehistoric tools, including a stone ax, were found during the dig."
- "A screwdriver is a tool that no household should be without."
- "A stapler is a tool for attaching papers to others."
- "the tools of the trade"
- "Rakes, shovels, hoes, and spades are some of the tools of the gardener's trade."
- "I don't have the right tools to start fiddling around with the engine."
Etymology
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 used for spinning").
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /tul/
Usage
- Informal
- Derogatory
- Slang
- Canadian usage
- American usage
- Transitive verb
- Intransitive verb
- British usage