tool v.
1. of a man, to have sexual intercourse; thus tooling n.
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | DSUE (8th edn) 1249/2: ca. 1750–1890. | |
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | You Wouldn’t Be Dead for Quids (1989) 166: Who said anything about me going up there just for the sake of doing a bit of stray tooling. | |
| Wind & Monkey (2013) [ebook] ‘I reckon the big bludger got up to something up there and he’s not letting on. A bit of heavy tooling or something’. | |
| Indep. 10 Sept. 22/1: Terms for sex [in Australia] were ‘rooting’, ‘tooling’, ‘poking’, ‘stabbing’ or ‘meat injection.’. |
2. to move, to drive.
(a) (also towl) to drive a mail coach or any other horse-drawn vehicle; thus tooler, a (cab) driver.
| Sporting Mag. Oct. 10/2: She intends to tool the Liverpool expedition to-morrow night. | |
| Pierce Egan’s Life in London 17 Sept. 685/1: Wiilson, a Cab tooler, will fight Ned Savage the Cab, for 25l. a-side. | |
| Anecdotes of the Turf, the Chase etc. 279: He kept the prads well together, and tooled them over the river. | |
| Bk of Sports 8: What a turn out! a prince might not have been ashamed to tool her. | |
| Caxtons II Pt xiii 325: He [...] had replied with conscious pride, ‘That he could tool a coach!’. | |
| Bell’s Life in Sydney 29 Nov. 3/3: He [...] was nearly run over by an omnibus, tooled by Mr William Shipman. | |
| Young Tom Hall (1926) 231: [He] didn’t know that there would be any great harm in letting Captain Guineapg towl over Barkinside Moor. | |
| Adventures of Mr Verdant Green (1982) I 129: He wos a young gent as had much himproved hisself since he tooled him up to the ’Varsity with his guvnor. | |
| Rogue’s Progress (1966) 37: Can we ever forget the prime team he tooled from London to Brighton. | |
![[Ind]](/static/img/flags/ind.png "India") | Hills & Plains I 11: He was seen one day [...] ‘tooling’ the four-in-hand down Chowringhee. | |
| Story of a Lancashire Thief 11: I’ve heard him talk slang like a professional. Once I heard him telling two chums of his about tooling his drag to the Derby; in fact he knew all about traps, and casks, and drags, and rounders. | |
| Hamilton Spectator (Vic.) 7 Jan. 1/7: If he possesses a vehicle, it is invariably a ‘trap,’ or ‘drag;’ and he no longer drives: he ‘tools it’. | |
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | ‘Vagrants and Vagrancy’ in Appleton’s Journal (N.Y.) 6 Sept. 308: Go, for a drink, is cant; inexpressibles, for trousers, is slang; a clergyman’s seals (converts) is cant; [...] to tool a dwag down to the Derby, is cant. | |
| Little Mr. Bouncer 99: ‘Now, gentlemen, the coach is ready’ [...] ‘Are you going to tool the tits?’ asked little Mr. Bouncer. | |
| Bulletin (Sydney) 28 Mar. 10/2: The landlord […] appeared much edified by a narrative by Martisson of how he had ‘tooled’ a mail-phaeton down to Botony. | |
| Houndsditch Day by Day 79: Whimblett primus, tooling a four-in-hand team of well-matched, hog-maned unicorns. | |
 | ’A Ballad of Mule’ in Arizona Republic (Phoenix, AZ) 17 Dec. 16/7: I’ve drove a borax wagon with forty mules in front; / I’ve tooled them through Mizzoury mud for years. | |
| (con. 1835–40) Bold Bendigo 114: He was so drunk a day or two before the Leger that he fell off a turn-out he was tooling and damaged his face. | |
| Sporting Times 151: She tooled the team home in professional style. |
(b) to be driven in a horse-drawn vehicle; thus to drive or travel in a car or any other vehicle; usu. as tool along
| Bell’s Life in Sydney 30 Sept. 3/2: The latter awoke the slumbering charioteer, and kindly volunteered to tool him home. | |
| Sportsman 12 Dec. 4/1: Notes on News [...] Amongst all classes [...] in Paris velocipede locomotion seems to be the rage. Prince Achillo Murat [...] has already greatly distinguished himself in ‘tooling along’ one of these curious machines. | |
| ‘’Arry on the Turf’ in Punch 29 Nov. 297/1: I tooled it by road in a hansom, no end of a dashing grey ’orse. | |
| Truth (Sydney) 28 Oct. 1/4: And had he tooled a city bus / From 8 a.m. till midnight’s chime [etc.]. | |
| No. 5 John Street 148: Drivin’ down myself for the Nimrod. Tool you down in style. | |
| Damsel in Distress (1961) 12: I’ve got to motor into town to meet Percy. [...] I promised to meet him in town and tool him back in the car. | |
| Secret Adversary (1955) 189: ‘I thought you’d rather I tolled you back to London’. | |
| Enter the Saint 105: I can understand her getting rather excited when Whiskers tools up with his gang. | |
| Argot: Dict. of Und. Sl. | |
| Dead Ringer 118: He could tool that little coupé through holes in traffic that didn’t look big enough to fit a kiddy-car. | |
| Dud Avocado (1960) 211: Do you mean to tell me you’ve come tooling all the way down from Paris [...] for the sole purpose of getting off a statement like that? | |
| Venetian Blonde (2006) 250: Then I tooled the car along the canals looking for a good spot. | |
| Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test (1969) 309: They tooled up to the rendezvous point — no Kesey. | |
| Tales of the City (1984) 73: She and Binky and Muffy would snitch the keys to Daddy’s Mercedes and tool down to the Fillmore. | |
| Joe Bob Goes to the Drive-In 144: I [...] tooled down I-45 to the Harbor Lights Bar in Houston. | |
| Permanent Midnight 165: Tooling down to Mickey D’s as fast as I could. | |
| Random Family 163: She’d tool up to the front gates of the prison – with the girls in the back. | |
| (con. 1962) Enchanters 38: She cranks a U-turn [...] tools west on Sunset. | |
| California Bear 8: Lucky denizens would spot her tooling around LA in her trademark neon-pink sports car. |
(c) to proceed in a leisurely, aimless way; usu. as tool along
| Mr Sprouts, His Opinions 34: With that, I tooled out o’ the crib in a huff. | |
| Inimitable Jeeves 72: You look so beastly conspicuous [...] tooling around London with a fish and a lot of cats. | |
| ‘Phoney Shakedown’ Dan Turner - Hollywood Detective Feb. 🌐 A bilious purple Cadillac limousine [...] slid to the curb, tooled by a hulking bruiser in a ridiculous comic opera uniform. | |
| Honest Rainmaker (1991) 134: So the Kid tooled down the wonderful new Pacific Highway. | |
| Gidget Goes Hawaiian 6: I grabbed my board and tooled down to old mother Bu – meaning Malibu. | |
| Campus Sl. Mar. 6: tool – walking casually [...] We tooled over to school. | |
| Serial 96: I just saw his Volvo tooling around the corner. | |
| I, Fatty 121: Having tooled all the way from Los Angeles to Beantown, I was so tired [etc.]. | |
| Riptide Ultra-Glide 283: ‘[He] saw this particular boat tooling through the water’. | |
| Giuliani 70: [T]ooling around the city with her on his way to his press events. |
(d) to leave at speed; usu. as tool along
| Inimitable Jeeves 35: You’d better be tooling down to the desk now. | |
| ‘Neither Your Jenny nor Mine’ in Love Ain’t Nothing but Sex Misspelled 67: He was still staring as I tooled out of the lot. | |
| Suicide Hill 244: Marlon Brando tooling on a Harley hog. | |
| Monster (1994) 191: Mom and I tooled out of the hospital parking lot. | |
![[NZ]](/static/img/flags/nz.png "New Zealand") | Davey Darling 25: Bryce had his foot down and was tooling it up Paget Street as fast as he could go. |
3. to pick pockets.
| , | | Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. |
| Cornhill Mag. VI, 651: We are going a-flimping, buzzing, cracking, tooling, etc [F&H]. | |
| Sl. Dict. |
4. to attack with a weapon [coined by Thomas De Quincey (1785–1859), punning on SE tool, a dagger + the decoration or ‘tooling’ of a blade].
(a) to murder, usu. with a knife.
| Daily News 12 Feb. in (1909) 248/1: Sir Edward Reed’s suspected assassin is thought to have ‘tooled’, as De Quincey says, with a Japanese dagger. |
(b) to stab; to slash with a razor [underpinned by tool n.1 (2e)].
| in Encounter n.d. in Norman’s London (1969) 60: Well, if you must know, I got my first [conviction] for a jump up (stealing a lorry), and one for a blag (wages snatch), and another for tooling some flash tearaway (cutting a geezer with a razor). |
5. (US campus) to study.
| et al. CUSS 211: Tool Work (study) hard and concentratedly. | |
| College Sl. Dict. 🌐 tool [MIT] to study. |
In phrases
1. to drive around, esp. to drive fast; orig. of a coach, latterly an automobile.
| 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 . | |
| Era (London) 4 Sept. 11/3: He can tool along when he likes in the most artistical style, and is a Jehu deservedly popular with his passengers. | |
| York Herald 22 Mar. 8/4: The drivers of the four-in-hands [...] are all men of high social position, who ’tool along the road’ really for the love of the thing. | |
| Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 29 Nov. 15/2: [A] lovely spring morning, with the sun tooling his golden ‘drag’ [...] o’erhead. | |
| N. Devon Jrnl 9 Sept. 6/1: Next there comes the Windsor drag, / With team of faultless bays / Which Peyton loves to tool along / Her Majesty’s highways. | |
| Ipswich Jrnl 1 June 5/2: Representatives of the bon ton tool along in gorgeous drags, blowing tin trumpets. | |
| Isle of Man Times 18 Nov. 3/1: Venerable countrymen were seen tooling along the roads. | |
| Portsmouth Eve. News 13 Nov. 3/1: Master Bertie Cooke [...] can tool the car along at ten miles an hour with the utmost coolness. | |
![[Scot]](/static/img/flags/sco.png "Scotland") | Dundee Courier 21 June 7/3: Streets resound with the jingle of harness, and are gay with the scarlet coats of drivers, who tool along [...] the laden four-in-hands. | |
| (con. 1917–18) Wings (1928) 157: Mary-Louise Preston was tooling along the Champs Elysées in her truck. | |
| ‘Razorback Sl.’ in AS L:1/2 68: tool around vi Drive around in a car. | |
| Glitter Dome (1982) 20: I was tooling along when I see this drunk run up on the embankment. | |
| Lucky You 298: Tooling along in the missing skiff. | |
| St Louis Post-Dispatch (MO) 30 Sept. C001/1: A group of young professional blacks dancing [...] while the new car tooled around town. | |
| Leather Maiden 4: I tooled along with my eyes squinted to keep out some of the summer light. | |
| Gutshot Straight [ebook] The car was a 1974 Ford Maverick [and] Shake and his two friends, Whelan and Chunks, tooled around town for a couple of hours. |
2. to walk or travel leisurely.
| Diary 23 Feb. (1972) 116: Near S. Martin’s Lane, I met W. M. Thackeray; ‘tooling’ along quietly, alone, with hands in pockets [OED]. |
3. to walk off fast.
| Jeeves in the Offing 22: I was tooling along a mossy path with the brow a bit wet with honest sweat. | |
| ‘Long, Clear View’ in Turning (2005) 197: You know well enough to keep tooling along as though you haven’t noticed. |
4. to walk with, to guide.
| (con. 1923) Mint (1955) 170: Your next stop’ll be Adjutant tomorrow. I’ll tool you along. |
5. in non-physical sense, to peruse, to research.
| Sucked In 210: He spent the whole day tooling around the electorate with the membership lists. |
(US campus) to arrive, usu. at speed.
| Affairs of Gidget 30: Might as well get them now, instead of tooling in on Sunday. | |
| ‘Razorback Sl.’ in AS L:1/2 68: He came tooling in about 9:00. |
to leave, to go away; to abandon, to desert.
| Carry on, Jeeves 152: I shook his hand, patted him on the back and tooled off home to Jeeves. | |
| ‘Red Wind’ in Red Wind (1946) 62: I [...] watched the squad car tool off down the block. | |
| ‘Hot Rod Lexicon’ in Hepster’s Dict. 7: Tooling out – Taking off fast. | |
| ‘Kookie, Kookie, Lend Me Your Comb’ 🎵 If you ever tool me out...dead, I’m the saddest, like a brain. | |
| Jeeves in the Offing 111: When we parted she was tooling off to tell him. | |
| et al. CUSS 212: Tool out Leave a place. | |
| Kill Your Friends (2009) 57: This gentleman [...] tooling off through the beaded curtains. |
1. to arm oneself; thus tool up on v., to shoot someone.
| Hell’s Angels (1967) 28: Maybe some once-bland fraternal group tooling up. | |
![[Can]](/static/img/flags/can.png "Canada") | Buttons 27: We tooled up immediately. | |
| Different Seasons (1995) 467: Ace is probably gonna tool up on Gordie and somebody else’ll tool up on Teddy. | |
| Guardian Guide 5–12 June 9: Buffy and her stake-wielding homegirls have to tool up with gunsamundo to save the day. | |
| Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 191/1: tool up v. to arm oneself. | |
| Raiders 191: We [...] got changed into our robbery kit and tooled up. | |
| Hood Rat 105: He always calls Pilgrim to check on him, just as he is tooling up for a robbery. | |
| Zero at the Bone [ebook] ‘I’ve spent the night tooling up. I’m gonna jump the bastards in the airport car park’. | |
| Eve. Standard 4 July 9/5: ‘Stakes are higher and people tool up’. |
2. (US drugs) to equip oneself with a package of drugs to sell.
| ‘Straight and True’ Wire ser. 3 ep. 5 [TV script] Tell our people to tool up. |
Based on SE tool/tool n.1 (1)
In phrases
to behave in an aimless, irresponsible manner, to waste time.
| ‘Prison Dict.’ in AS VIII:3 (1933) 32/2: TOOL. To stall or loaf. | |
| Clicking of Cuthbert 171: Ramsden was always busy tooling around with little Wilberforce. | |
| None But the Lonely Heart 234: Start tooling about up there, and you’ll be following your father. | |
| et al. DAUL 224/2: Tool, v. (Leavenworth Prison) To shirk work. | |
| Current Sl. I:1 4/2: Tooling Unoccupied or in search of something to do; fooling around. | |
| Current Sl. II:3 12: Tool, v. To walk or move around. | |
| Tales of the City (1984) 102: All I did in high school was tool around with the guys and a six-pack of Bud, looking for heterosexuals to beat up. | |
| Chili 72: I had a nice car to tool around in. | |
| Corner (1998) 49: She couldn’t see herself out there where Gary wanted her, tooling around with some kitchen apron on. | |
| Hurricane Punch 53: He’s tooling around in the middle of a hurricane. |
(US campus) to mistreat someone.
| et al. CUSS 212: Tooled (around) Treated unfairly on an exam. | |
| Campus Sl. Oct. 10: tool – ridicule [...] Elizabeth was tooled by Doug because he never called her after she had professed her love for him. |