tool
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tool
1.
a. an implement, such as a hammer, saw, or spade, that is used by hand
b. a power-driven instrument; machine tool
2. the cutting part of such an instrument
3.
a. any of the instruments used by a bookbinder to impress a design on a book cover
b. a design so impressed
4. anything used as a means of performing an operation or achieving an end
Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005
tool
[tül] (engineering)
Any device, instrument, or machine for the performance of an operation, for example, a hammer, saw, lathe, twist drill, drill press, grinder, planer, or screwdriver.
(industrial engineering)
To equip a factory or industry for production by designing, making, and integrating machines, machine tools, and special dies, jigs, and instruments, so as to achieve manufacture and assembly of products on a volume basis at minimum cost.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
tool
(tool)A program used primarily to create, manipulate,
modify, or analyse other programs, such as a compiler or an
editor or a cross-referencing program. Opposite: app,
operating system.
tool
(2)A Unix application program with a simple, "transparent"
(typically text-stream) interface designed specifically to be
used in programmed combination with other tools (see filter,
plumbing).
tool
(jargon)(MIT: general to students there) To work; to
study (connotes tedium). The TMRC Dictionary defined this
as "to set one's brain to the grindstone". See hack.
tool
(jargon, person)(MIT) A student who studies too much and
hacks too little. MIT's student humour magazine rejoices in
the name "Tool and Die".
This article is provided by FOLDOC - Free Online Dictionary of Computing (foldoc.org)