| 释义 |
▪ I. tool, n.|tuːl|
Forms: 1 tól, 2–4 tol, 4–7 tole, toole, (5 tule, toyel, 5–6 toile, 5–7 toyle, 6 toyll, towle, 7 tooell), 4– tool.
[OE. tól neut., = ON. tól n. pl. (cf. Norw. tøler):—OTeut. *tôwlom, tôlom, f. *tôw- to prepare, make (cogn. with Goth. taujan: see taw v.1) + agent-suffix -lom, -el1.]
1. a. ‘Any instrument of manual operation’ (J.); a mechanical implement for working upon something, as by cutting, striking, rubbing, or other process, in any manual art or industry; usually, one held in and operated directly by the hand (or fixed in position, as in a lathe), but also including certain simple machines, as the lathe; sometimes extended to simple instruments of other kinds, as in quot. 1893. See also edge-tool.
c888K. ælfred Boeth. xiv. §1 Þæt mete and drync & claðas, & tol to swelcum cræfte. c1000ælfric Exod. xx. 25 Gif þu þin tol ahefst ofer hyt, hit biþ besmiten. a1100Gerefa in Anglia (1886) IX. 262 He sceal fela tola to tune tilian. c1205Lay. 29253 Nettes..and þa tolen þer to. 13..E.E. Allit. P. B. 1342 Formed with handes Wyth tool out of harde tre, & telded on lofte. a1400–50Alexander 4708 A pelare of marble Quare-on a tulke wiþ a toile þis titill vp he wrate. c1440York Myst. xxxiv. 298, I warand all redy Oure tooles bothe lesse and more. 1497Naval Acc. Hen. VII (1896) 89 Carpenters toles..j chest. 1501Bury Wills (Camd.) 84 To..Margarett my wyff all my stuff of houshold..excepte my werkyng toole, weche I wyll that John my sone haue. 1570Levins Manip. 214/45 A Toyle, instrumentum. 1573Tusser Husb. (1878) 31 Few lends (but fooles) their working tooles. 1597Knaresborough Wills (Surtees) I. 207 One lowme with the towles yr unto belonginge. a1660Contemp. Hist. Irel. (Ir. Archæol. Soc.) II. 172 All theire bagage, tooells, and instruments. 1667Milton P.L. xi. 572 Moulds..from which he formd First his own Tooles. 1706E. Ward Wooden World Diss. (1708) 62 His [the Surgeon's] Tools are of various Sorts and Sizes. 1818Byron Juan i. cci, Good workmen never quarrel with their tools. 1877Knight Dict. Mech. s.v., Of late it has become usual to embrace in the general term machine tools, such machines as the lathe, planer, slotting-machine, and others employed in the manufacture of machinery. 1893Hodges Elem. Photogr. (1907) 22 The anastigmat [lens] will..prove the more useful tool.
b. A weapon of war, esp. a sword. arch.
[c1000Ags. Gloss. in Haupt's Zeitschrift IX. 424 Instrumenta bellica, wiᵹlice tol.] c1386Chaucer Nun's Pr. T. 96 We alle desiren..no fool Ne hym þat is agast of euery tool. a1400Morte Arth. 3617 The toppe-castelles he stuffede with toyelys, as hyme lykyde. c1400Destr. Troy 938 Iason..gryppet a grym toole, gyrd of his hede. 1592Shakes. Rom. & Jul. i. i. 37 Draw thy toole, here comes of the house of Mountagues. 1671H. Foulis Hist. Rom. Treasons (1681) 228 Pope John xxii..pulls out his tools against Lewes. 1706E. Ward Wooden World Diss. (1708) 63 He's somewhat prouder of that long Tool of his, that hangs without board. 1821Scott Kenilw. iv, Draw thy tool, man, and after him.
(b) Hence in Criminals' slang, any weapon.
1938F. D. Sharpe Sharpe of Flying Squad xix. 209 ‘Here they are, boys; get your tools ready.’.. As they ran they pulled weapons from under their coats, hatchets, knuckle-dusters, hammers, and bars of iron. 1971J. Mandelkau Buttons i. 28 We grabbed our tools and by then the Mods were at the bottom of the street.
†c. The cutting part of a knife, the blade. Obs.
1653Urquhart Rabelais i. xxvii. 129 Little hulchback't demi-knives, the iron toole whereof is two inches long, and the wooden handle one inch thick.
d. spec. in technical use: (a) Bookbinding. A small stamp or roller used for impressing an ornamental design upon leather book-covers: cf. tooling 2 b. (b) A large kind of chisel. (c) A generic name for any kind of paint-brush used by house-painters or decorators; also, a large brush used by picture-painters. (d) An abbreviated form of grafting-tool, etc.
(a)1727–41Chambers Cycl. s.v. Book-binding, These ornaments are made with each its several gilding-tool, engraven in relievo. Ibid., To apply the gold, they glaze those parts of the leather, whereon the tools are to be applied, lightly over [etc.]. 1837Whittock, etc. Bk. Trades (1842) 37 (Bookbinder) The tools that produce the figures or letters are applied hot. 1895J. W. Zaehnsdorf Short Hist. Bookbinding 13 He cut most of these tools himself,..because he could not find a tool cutter of sufficient skill.
(b)1815[see tooling 2]. 1823P. Nicholson Pract. Build. 341 Of the two kinds of chisels..the tool is the largest. 1842–76Gwilt Encycl. Arch. §1910 The tools used to work the face of a stone are, successively, the point, the inch tool, the boaster..and the broad tool. Ibid., The broad tool 3½ inches at the cutting edge.
(c)1859Gullick & Timbs Paint. 198 The larger brushes..made of hog-hair..are called ‘tools’. 1860Piesse Lab. Chem. Wonders 153 A painter calls a paint-brush ‘a tool’.
2. fig.
a. Anything used in the manner of a tool; a thing (concrete or abstract) with which some operation is performed; a means of effecting something; an instrument.
c1000Eccles. Inst. c. 21 Þis synt þa lara and þa tol gastlices cræftes. 1555T. Phaer æneid ii. E j b, At last Those toles for shift at death extreme, to fend them selfs they cast. 1611Sir W. Mure Misc. Poems ii. 46 He [Cupid]..left behind his tort'ring toyle [rime spoyle; cf. l. 40 Ye bow, ye schafts, ye quaver and ye brace]. 1651Hobbes Leviath. ii. xxv. 132 They..make use of Similitudes..and other tooles of Oratory. 1674Grew Disc. Mixture ii. § 5 As the World, taken together, is Natures Shop; so the Principles of Things are her Tools, and her Materials. 1749Smollett Gil Blas viii. ix. III. 161 You have (to use the expression of our tennis-court) the universal tool: that is to say, you are qualified for every thing. 1847L. Hunt Men, Women, & B. I. i. 7 Mechanical knowledge is a great and a glorious tool in the hands of man. 1884B. Price in Contemp. Rev. Mar. 381 Money..is a pure tool—nothing more.
b. A bodily organ; spec. the male generative organ (or pl. organs). Now slang. [So ON. tól.]
1553Becon Reliques of Rome (1563) 18 All his toles that appertayne vnto the court of Venus. 1613Shakes. Hen. VIII, v. iv. 35 Or haue wee some strange Indian with the great Toole, come to Court? 1687Shadwell Juvenal 307 What pleasure can the weak Old Doting Fool, Expect from that infirm and Aged Tool? 1885R. F. Burton Arab. Nts. III. 7, I was become even as a woman, without manly tool like other men. 1922Joyce Ulysses 299 The poor bugger's tool that's being hanged. 1966L. Cohen Beautiful Losers (1970) i. 114 You uncovered his nakedness!—You peeked at his tool! 1971J. Stewart tr. Simenon's Rich Man iii. 64 A little slut of a girl..who had not protested when he had put his tool in her hand.
3. fig.
a. A person used by another for his own ends; one who is, or allows himself to be, made a mere instrument for some purpose; a cat's-paw.
1663Butler Hud. i. i. 35 Which made some take him for a tool, That knaves do work with, call'd a fool. 1688Bp. Parker in Magd. Coll. (O.H.S.) 240 To set me here to make me his tool and his prop! 1711Hearne Collect. (O.H.S.) III. 133 Charlett and his Tools have got Rogers advanc'd. 1769Junius Lett. xxiv. (1770) 153 If there be any tool of administration daring enough to deny these facts. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. iv. I. 494 The sheriffs were the tools of the government. 1874Green Short Hist. vii. §4. 379 Mary had used Darnley as a tool to effect the ruin of his confederates.
b. (esp. qualified by poor or the like.) An unskilful workman; a shiftless person. slang or dial.
a1700B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Slug, a drone, or dull Tool. 1722G. Vertue Diary in N. & Q. (1861) 2nd Ser. XII. 81/1 The organists are poor tools and very deficient. 1863Mrs. Toogood Yorks. Dial. (MS.), You are a poor tool, your work is not done as it ought to be.
c. A pickpocket; the member of a pair or team of pickpockets who actually picks pockets; = wire n. 13.
1865Leaves from Diary Celebr. Burglar xviii. 62/1 They were getting uneasy about the absence of their ‘tool’. 1886A. Pinkerton Thirty Yrs. a Detective 38 The man who is to do the actual stealing is called the ‘tool’ or ‘hook’ and the others are known as ‘stalls’. 1936Evening News 9 Dec. 8/5 Modern pickpockets are either ‘tools’ or ‘stalls.’.. Really clever tools work alone, disdaining the assistance of a stall. 1955Publ. Amer. Dial. Soc. xxiv. 60 The tool selects the mark to be robbed, and actually takes the score.
4. Bookbinding. (transf. from 1 d (a).) A tooled design on a book-cover.
1881Cundall Bookbindings 76 He began with a small number of dotted tools, foliage, and the so-called seventeenth-century tools. 1885C. G. W. Lock Workshop Receipts Ser. iv. 252/1 A book on Natural History should have a bird, insect, shell or other tool indicative of the contents.
5. attrib. and Comb., as tool bag (also fig.), tool-basket, tool-box, † tool-budget (budget n. 2 b), tool-chest, tool-cutter, tool-dressing, tool-extractor, tool-gauge, tool-handle, tool-kit, tool-maker, tool-making n. and adj., tool-pouch, tool-rack, tool-roll, tool-room, tool-seller, tool-shed, tool-shop, tool-tray, tool-user, tool-using n. and adj.; tool-bar, a frame fitted to a tractor on which interchangeable implements may be mounted; tool-box, spec. the steel box (box n.2 15) in which the cutting tool of a planing or other machine is clamped; tool-car (U.S.), a car used on a railway equipped with tools and appliances for clearing the line after an accident; a breakdown car; tool-coupling, a screw coupling by which the operating part of a tool is fastened to the handle (Knight); tool-crib, a place from which tools or other stores are issued to workmen; tool-dresser Oil Industry = roustabout 3; tool head, a part of a machine that carries the tool or tool-holder and can be moved to bring the tool to bear on the work; tool-holder, (a) a handle by which a tool is held in the hand, esp. a detachable handle for various tools; (b) a tray with a rack for holding a set of tools; (c) a device for holding a tool firmly in place, as in a lathe, or when being ground upon a grindstone; tool-house, a building in which tools are kept, a tool-shed; tool-man, (a) a worker with tools; a toolroom worker; (b) Criminals' slang, a lock-picker or (U.S.) safe-breaker; tool-mark, the mark of a tool upon any object that has been shaped or worked by it; tool-marking, the etching of a mark or lettering upon a steel tool; tool-post, an upright piece in the tool-rest of a lathe, with a slot and a screw for holding the cutting-tool; tool-pusher Oil Industry, someone in charge of a drilling rig; tool-rest, a part of a lathe serving to support a hand-tool, or to hold a mechanical tool in place (in the latter case often having various adjustments for different positions of the tool); tool slide, a sliding machine part which carries a tool; toolsmith, a man who makes steel tools; tool-stack = tool-post, tool-holder (c); tool-stay, a tool-holder in a lathe-rest, with a slot for a drill or other tool (Knight); tool steel, steel of the quality used for tools; tool-stock = tool-post; tool-stone, name for a palæolithic implement consisting of a natural stone very slightly adapted to be held in the hand, or used as a rude tool; tool subject Educ., a subject taught or studied as a help to a main subject.
1892–3T. Eaton & Co. Catal. Fall & Winter 95/1 Bicycle Accessories... *Tool Bags—Flat pouch with fastener. 1970New York 16 Nov. 42/2 Talk is the most unreliable and over-reacted-to weapon in the black revolutionary toolbag.
1960Farmer & Stockbreeder 8 Mar. 74/3 In a great many cases they are designed as units to be carried on an ordinary *toolbar.
1858Simmonds Dict. Trade, *Tool-basket, a carpenter's or other workman's basket, for holding tools.
1832Chambers's Edin. Jrnl. I. 236/2 Lifting his *tool-box, and going through all the operations of horse-shoeing. 1841–4Emerson Ess. Prudence, [He] builds a work-bench, or gets his tool-box set in the corner of the barn-chamber. 1904Lineham's Text-bk. Mech. Eng. 171 The tool box is fixed to a ram, the sliding of which in saddle gives the cut.
1794W. Felton Carriages (1801) I. 223 *Tool budget is a small convenience made to hang by straps under the hind part of a carriage.
1778Cook Voy. Pacific iv. v. (1784) II. 373 As well and ingeniously made, as if they were furnished with the most complete *tool-chest.
1936J. Dos Passos Big Money 19 In six years he rose from machinist's helper to keeper of *toolcribs. 1973T. Pynchon Gravity's Rainbow i. 160 It must have been the wind that was carrying him down a dirt road..among the shacks and tool cribs to a wire fence with a gate.
1896B. Redwood Petroleum I. v. 258 The drilling ‘crew’ consists of two drillers and two *tool-dressers. 1976M. Machlin Pipeline iv. 53 His Daddy started him as a tool dresser—same way I started.
1882Rep. to Ho. Repr. Prec. Met. U.S. 594 It includes tools, *tool-dressing and grinding.
1877Knight Dict. Mech., *Tool-extractor, an implement for recovering from drilled holes broken tools or portions of rods.
Ibid. 2594/1 Nasmyth's *tool-gage, for testing the angularity of the cutting-face of iron-turning tools.
1887C. A. Moloney Forestry W. Afr. 207 Red wood used for *tool-handles and mallets.
1950W. Cooper in A. W. Judge Centre, Capstan & Automatic Lathes I. iv. 212 Independent feed for the *tool heads is provided at each [work] station. 1977Sci. Amer. Sept. 188/1 The appropriate toolhead was selected automatically by a punched-paper-tape program that was read by an electronic computer-controller.
1877Knight Dict. Mech. 2594/1 A *tool-holder for dentists. 1887D. A. Low Machine Draw. (1892) 110 Tool-holders must be drawn in their proper positions in the ram, and not separate as in the diagram. 1905Athenæum 14 Oct. 510/1 The needles used were European, fitted into watchmaker's tool-holders.
1818Scott Rob Roy xiv, Before he trundled them off to the *tool-house. 1908Betw. Trent & Ancholme 10 A lattice-gate, into the tool-house.
1963A. Lubbock Austral. Roundabout 108, I took..a *tool-kit, a box of spare parts, two spare wheels, [etc.]. 1977C. McFadden Serial (1978) iv. 14/2 Did she have enough cash in her Swedish carpenter's tool kit?
1844Mill Ess. Pol. Econ. iv. 98 The producer..must set aside a portion of the produce to replace not only the wages paid both by himself and by the tool-maker, but also the profits of the *tool-maker. 1858Simmonds Dict. Trade, Tool-maker. 1888E. Clodd Story Creation xi. 217 If he is not the only tool-user, he is the only tool-maker among the Primates.
1785Boswell Jrnl. Tour Heb. 25 n., Dr. Franklin said, Man was ‘a *tool-making animal’, which is very well; for, no animal but man makes a thing, by means of which he can make another thing. 1893Eliza R. Sunderland in Barrows Parl. Relig. I. 630 Religion is an attribute of humanity, as reason and language and tool-making are.
1909Webster, *Toolman, one who works with or makes tools. 1949W. R. Burnett Asphalt Jungle vii. 47 We need an expert toolman. 1970R. Busby Frighteners xvi. 157 The toolman..got his nickname and reputation by proving there wasn't a lock made that he couldn't tickle. 1977Whitaker's Almanack 1978 577 British Leyland was given 28 days to get the striking toolmen back to work. 1979K. Bonfiglioli After you with Pistol xxiv. 149 Every sound, professional team of thieves has..a ‘toolman’ who knows how to neutralize burglar-alarm systems and to open locks.
1865J. F. Campbell Frost & Fire I. x. 94 Before a craftsman can recognise a *tool-mark, he must be familiar with the tool.
1864Webster, *Tool-post, the part of a tool-rest that holds a stationary cutting-tool;—called also tool-stock.
1932Amer. Speech VII. 271 *Tool pusher, a foreman in charge of drilling operations—distinct from driller. 1976M. Machlin Pipeline xlii. 460 Around daylight a tool-pusher comes out and he tells us we better shut down our rig and put out the fire because the crew on the next well's going to change their control head.
1864Webster, *Tool-rest (Machine-tools), the part that supports a tool-post or a tool.
1917Harrods Gen. Catal. 1059/4 Motor car *tool roll..containing 19 best quality tools. 1979W. H. Canaway Solid Gold Buddha xxii. 146 Pete spread a toolroll on the spillway.
1878Aylward Transvaal ii. (1881) 18 Everywhere one may observe that older houses are being used as waggon shelters, coach-houses, *tool-rooms. 1937Times 13 Apr. p. xv/2 This checking is the function of the tool room staff in which are to be found the finest craftsmen in the factory. 1963Times 28 May 5/2 More than 1,400 toolroom workers in 10 Birmingham factories of the Joseph Lucas group took part in a 24-hour token strike today. 1976Milton Keynes Express 16 July 13/4 (Advt.), Toolmaker and toolroom miller required.
1875T. Seaton Fret-Cutting 71 The *tool-seller has to pay the workman for dressing the wood.
1840Dickens Barn. Rudge lv, To break open a *tool-shed in the garden.
1875T. Seaton Fret-Cutting 71 Unprepared wood bought at the *tool-shop.
1919G. W. Burley Lathes vii. 108 In some special forms of vertical turning and boring mills the *tool-slide is of the non-swivelling variety,..and only vertical and horizontal movements are possible. 1936Colvin & Stanley Turning & Boring Practice vii. 101 When the cut is completed the spindle stops, the flow of coolant is shut off, and the tool slides return..to the starting point. 1963Tool slide [see semi-automatic n. 1].
1884C. G. W. Lock Workshop Receipts Ser. iii. 269/2 A *toolsmith usually heats cast steel to what he terms a cherry-red.
1868Joynson Metals 90 For *tool-steel, from 1·5 to 1·7 per cent [of charcoal being required]. 1894Bowker in Harper's Mag. Jan. 419 Too costly..to be in demand except for tool steel.
1864*Tool-stock [see tool-post].
1865Lubbock Preh. Times iv. 76 The oval *tool-stones..are oval or egg-shaped stones, more or less indented on one or both surfaces... Some antiquaries suppose that they were held between the fingers and thumb, and used as hammers or chippers.
1934Webster, *Tool subject. 1966Rep. Comm. Inquiry Univ. Oxf. II. 456 Teaching in any ‘ancillary’ or ‘tool’ subject (e.g. languages for historians or mathematics for economists).
1888*Tool-user [see tool-maker].
1831Carlyle Sart. Res. i. v, This Definition of the *Tool-using Animal appears to us, of all that Animal-sort, considerably the precisest and best. 1862D. Wilson Preh. Man vi. (1865) 96 Man was created with a tool-using instinct.
▸ Computing. Any item of software (or occasionally, hardware) used as the means of accomplishing a specific task; esp. (a) a utility program employed in the development, maintenance, and manipulation of software and (less frequently) hardware; freq. more fully in software tool, programming tool, etc.; (b) a particular function available within an application (freq. with a toolbar interface); (occas. also) the clickable icon representing such a function.
1956Proc. Eastern Joint Computer Conf. 124 (heading) Datafile—a new tool for extensive file storage. 1976B. W. Kernighan & P. J. Plauger (title) Software tools. 1984Computers & Electronics (Nexis) Apr. 44 The Manager here is really a binary tree of menus presented in graphics form (but without icons). Select the tools menus item, for example, and you're brought down into a second level of options. 1989PC World Oct. 227/2 The desqview API Debugger is an interactive tool enabling the API programmer to trace and single step through API calls from several concurrently running..programs. 1991UnixWorld Oct. 102/1 Choose the text tool and click to invoke the text dialog box. 1993E. S. Raymond New Hacker's Dict. (ed. 2) 264 Bugs in an important tool (like a compiler) are serious lossage. 1995Desktop Publishers Jrnl. July 30/4 Knock out the current background using the pen tool found in the Show Paths tool palette. 2001Yahoo! Internet Life July 82/2 It's not just a Web site; it's also a set of publishing tools that allows even a novice to create a Weblog, automatically add content to a Web site, or organize links, commentary, and open discussions.
▸ toolbar n. Computing a row of buttons or icons on a monitor screen representing a set of options in a program and constituting an interface to a set of applications, so that clicking on a button activates a tool or brings up a menu of further options.
1989MacUser (Nexis) July 197 Plus has full-screen windows with scroll bars and close boxes and an expandable *tool bar (no tear-off menus here). 1992PC World Apr. 208/1 Excel 4.0's new tool bar—shortcut buttons that execute frequently used commands—will also help you steer clear of menus. 1995Amer. Scientist Sept.–Oct. (inside back cover) (advt.) Batch command language and editable macros, flexible ‘turn-key’ and automation options, custom-designed procedures can be added to floating Auto Task toolbars. 2001Computer Music May 71/3 On-the-fly marker placement is achieved by hitting F11 or clicking the + icon in the markers toolbar.
▸ toolbox n. Computing a set of software tools designed to facilitate the construction of more advanced tools or user programs in specific application areas; a toolkit (though the terms toolbox and toolkit may be used more specifically by individual authors so that one constitutes a subset of the other).
1966Proc. AFIPS Conf. 28 150/1 The SMPS *toolbox contains building blocks and a framework with which a model of a message-processing system can be built. 1982Byte Mar. 464/3 The toolbox approach lets scientists apply computers to laboratory problems that tend to resist conventional design and programming methods. 1998Daily Tel. 8 Oct. (Connected section) 12/2 Notice that if you click on the letter A in the Toolbox a resizeable box appears on the screen into which you can type text.
▸ toolkit n. Computing = toolbox n. at Additions
1982Computerworld 8 Mar. 62/4 *Toolkit/34 was designed to speed the retrieval of selected information for the programmer and to simplify those functions critical to program testing. 1986Acta Crystallogr. (A.) 42 110 (heading) A toolkit for computational molecular biology. II. On the optimal superposition of two sets of coordinates. 1988Byte Oct. 98/2 Zortech's Comm Toolkit package is an eye-opening collection of programs geared to the programmer involved with serial-port communications and anxious to get on with it. 1997EE Times 30 June 154/1 (advt.) Lead CAD projects in support of toolkit development for these products.
▸ toolset n. (a) a collection of tools, a toolkit; (b) Computing a set of software tools; = toolbox n. at Additions
1878Galveston (Texas) Daily News (Electronic text) 30 Aug. (advt.) *Tool sets, 75c. 1987Jrnl. Operational Res. Soc. 38 758 The toolset is generically applicable to various simulation modelling tasks. 2002Sunday Mercury (Birmingham) (Nexis) 4 Aug. 39 Here you can use the exact toolset the programmers used to design the game and create your own challenges, which you can then put on to the internet for all to play. 2004Canberra Times (Nexis) 12 June 11 The Galilee school..had asked Gerald Slaven Motors for the donation of a basic toolset to help re-establish its automotive repair workshop.
▪ II. tool, v.
[f. prec. n.]
1. a. trans. To work or shape with a tool; spec. to smooth the surface of a building stone with the chisels called ‘tools’: cf. quot. 1842 in tool n. 1 d (b).
1815[see tooling 2]. 1828Craven Gloss., Tool, to make a level surface on a stone. 1842Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl. V. 211/1 The whole exterior..will be faced with stone from the Summit delphs, which is to be neatly hammer-dressed, except the ashlar dressings, which are to be neatly tooled. 1873T. Seaton Fret-Cutting (1875) 56 The stems and branches look very well when simply rounded and tooled with the V-tool, or tooling-gouge, which is the smallest sized round gouge. 1876Preece & Sivewright Telegraphy 238 Chatterton's compound should be warmed, and a small quantity put on the copper and joint, and properly tooled over, so as to cover the joint equally. Before applying the tooling-iron it should be well wiped. 1895Daily Chron. 15 Jan. 6/7 Aluminium..is ductile, but difficult to tool.
b. Bookbinding. To impress an ornamental design upon the binding of (a book) with a special tool (see prec. 1 d (a)). Most usually in pa. pple.; see also tooled.
1836J. R. Smith's Catal. Bks. Feb. 14/1 A remarkable fine copy, russia extra, tooled on sides, gilt. 1881A. Lang Library 65 Leather tooled with geometrical patterns. 1885C. G. W. Lock Workshop Receipts Ser. iv. 246/1 Another method is to tool the edge before burnishing.
c. intr. To work with a tool or tools; spec. in Bookbinding: see prec. sense and tooling 2 b.
1890Daily News 2 July 5/1 ‘The Tasmanians’..the very last people who ‘tooled’ with rudely chipped flints. 1892Sat. Rev. 16 Jan. 64/2 They are a ferocious people..and ‘tool’ with spears almost as broad in the head as shovels.
d. trans. To equip (a factory) with the machine tools needed for a particular product; to provide the tools needed for (a new product); also intr. Usu. with up. Also fig.
1927Observer 25 Sept. 4 The work of tooling up the Manchester and Cork factories may result in production within the next two months. 1933Flight 27 Apr. 392 It is standard practice to ‘tool up’ for a certain type as soon as the size of the order warrants the expenditure on jigs and dies. 1939Times 4 Nov. 6/3 The United States National Defence Council is taking steps to see that American plants shall not be tooled to fit European needs at the expense..of the United States' own later military needs. 1940E. J. H. Jones Production Engin. i. 6 The expression to ‘tool up’ a component means to design and supply all jigs, fixtures, cutting tools, and gauges required for the manufacture and inspection of the piece. 1957Observer 3 Nov. 11/4 Makers must be given a chance to sell models already tooled-up. 1959Times Rev. Industry Apr. 57/3 Much expenditure had to be faced for tooling new models. 1962Listener 13 Sept. 375/1 The automobile factories have tooled up for their new models. 1972M. Kaye Lively Game v. 23, I saw all of the specs..and I helped to tool it up.
e. intr. to tool up (fig.): to arm oneself. slang.
1959Times 7 Apr. 6/3 There seemed a general agreement that the fashion of carrying dangerous weapons was more widespread to-day than formerly. One read all too often about groups of young men ‘tooling up’ before setting off for a showdown with a rival gang. 1971J. Mandelkau Buttons xiii. 142 We tooled up with pieces of wood and iron bars and hiked over towards their main camp. 1978H. Wouk War & Remembrance xxi. 213 We might have closed the Mediterranean and forced England to her knees even while..we tooled up for our summer Caucasus thrust.
2. slang.
a. trans. To drive (a team of horses, a vehicle, or a person in a vehicle); of a horse, to draw (a person) in a vehicle.
1812Sporting Mag. Oct. 10/2 She intends to tool the Liverpool expedition to-morrow night. 1840J. T. J. Hewlett P. Priggins xv, He would only drive to Benson, and ‘tool’ the down mail back again. 1849Lytton Caxtons xiii. iv, He could tool a coach. 1865Dickens Mut. Fr. i. xi, She was on most days solemnly tooled through the park..in a great tall custard-coloured phaeton. 1881Jessopp Arcady (1887) i. 13 The high-stepping mare that tools him along through the village street. 1882H. C. Merivale Faucit of B. II. ii. ii. 158, I tooled the little mare over from Luscombe Abbey—the six miles in the half-hour.
b. intr. Orig., to drive, to travel in a horse-drawn vehicle; also said of the vehicle, or team. Subsequently, by extension, to travel in any kind of vehicle, and (of the vehicle) to travel, go along.
1835Dickens Let. 11 Jan. (1965) I. 53, I wish..you could have seen me tooling in and out of the banners, drums,..and go-carts. 1839J. Frazer in Haileybury Observer I. 53 The road was so good..as to enable us to ‘tool along’ in a well-hung britschka, at the rate of ten miles an hour. 1849Thackeray Pendennis iii, I thought I'd just tool over, and go to the play. 1877M. M. Grant Sun-Maid xi, The Marquis's frisky chestnuts are tooling rapidly through the town. 1893W. A. Shee My Contemp. iii. 77 Went to Ascot..and we ‘tooled’ down in very good style. 1923Wodehouse Inimitable Jeeves xiii. 155, I borrowed a bicycle from one of the grooms and tooled off. 1964Manhunt May 134/1, I was tooling home from the Mexican border in a light blue convertible. 1977D. Anthony Skid Game xix. 114, I tooled down the Coast Highway to Sunset.
c. Of a person: to go (or come) in an easy manner; to go off quickly.
1862A. J. Munby Diary 23 Feb. (1972) 116 Near S. Martin's Lane, I met W. M. Thackeray; ‘tooling’ along quietly, alone, with hands in pockets. 1881Punch 17 Dec. 285/2 Now we'll just tool off to some quiet sort of a place where we can divide this 'ere shining swag without fireworks. 1936Wodehouse Laughing Gas xxviii. 293 Well, I know when I'm licked. I tooled straight round to the Temple of the New Dawn and asked for an entrance form. 1937D. L. Sayers Busman's Honeymoon 25 The Dowager saw them and was quite nice to them, so they tooled off, fairly happy. 1940Wodehouse Eggs, Beans & Crumpets 58 Bingo was tooling along the road with the Peke in his arms. 1945‘A. Gilbert’ Don't open Door! xix. 176 Citizens come tooling up to the Police Station..to give information. 1955E. Waugh Officers & Gentlemen 8 Tool off to Headquarters and get the gen about tonight's do. 1977‘E. Crispin’ Glimpses of Moon vi. 90 Then along comes the boy-friend..and tools off without the least idea that anything's seriously wrong.
d. To play around; to behave in an aimless or irresponsible manner.
1932F. Iles Before the Fact i. v. 77 ‘Well, anyhow, what are you doing with yourself.’.. ‘Oh, tooling around, you know. Nothing much.’ 1957New Yorker 21 Sept. 37/3 Let him stay parched or get a head cold tooling around in ferryboats. 1973‘A. Hall’ Tango Briefing ii. 22 We were tooling around in Malta on a friendly visit. 1981J. Wainwright All on Summer's Day 8 Tool around long enough with the paper work and..half the night has slipped by. |