"tool" means: Any physical device meant to ease or do a task.. This is a fairly neutral word with no inherent risk attached. There is no real cause for parental concern; it is descriptive vocabulary rather than something dangerous. If your child uses it, context will usually make the meaning clear. A brief, curious question about where they heard it is generally enough to know whether to follow up.
tool
Any physical device meant to ease or do a task.
Seen in the wild
10 citations · last seen May 2026
Seen in the wild
BlueskyMay 2026
After a long Claude Code session you want to know: which files changed, which tool calls fired, which rules blocked what. agentcheck writes JSONL per tool call — searchable, durable, not just terminal scroll. https://…
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BlueskyMay 2026
Funding folks take note Skyline is the first proteomics tool out the gate with an MCP server to enable Skyline/AI incorporation. @maccoss.bsky.social #Proteomics #AI #Innovation
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BlueskyMay 2026
*sigh* When the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem becomes a nail. Looks like the RBA want to trigger a recession to drive up unemployment, in order to reduce inflation.
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BlueskyMay 2026
kmcp (⭐️ 460) CLI tool and Kubernetes Controller for building, testing and deploying MCP servers #go
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BlueskyMay 2026
just shipped a new elfmem animation. it's a video showing memory blocks arriving, being ranked and linked by an agent called alv. what got me excited: alv wrote the tool that made the animation. so this video is basi…
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Definitions
#1·Apr 27, 2026
Any physical device meant to ease or do a task.
Several prehistoric tools, including a stone ax, were found during the dig.
Origin: From , tol, from , perhaps borrowed from , but at any rate ultimately from , from , equivalent to . Cognate with , , . Related to ; see taw, and tow ("fibres used for spinning"). Origin information sourced from Wiktionary contributors (CC BY-SA 4.0).
For parents
"tool" means: Any physical device meant to ease or do a task.. This is a fairly neutral word with no inherent risk attached. There is no real cause for parental concern; it is descriptive vocabulary rather than something dangerous. If your child uses it, context will usually make the meaning clear. A brief, curious question about where they heard it is generally enough to know whether to follow up.
For ESL learners
"tool" means: Any physical device meant to ease or do a task.. Register: neutral, standard English, usable in most everyday contexts. A common non-native mistake is to use the word in the wrong register, or to assume one fixed meaning when it is actually polysemous; always check the surrounding register and the audience before producing it yourself. In formal writing, prefer a neutral synonym or a short descriptive phrase, and use this word only when you have heard or read it being used naturally in a comparable context.
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#2·Apr 27, 2026
Anything that aids someone to perform an operation; an instrument; a means.
A screwdriver is a tool that no household should be without.
Heard in the wild
“Funding folks take note Skyline is the first proteomics tool out the gate with an MCP server to enable Skyline/AI incorporation. @maccoss.bsky.social #Proteomics #AI #Innovation”
— Bluesky· May 2026“just shipped a new elfmem animation. it's a video showing memory blocks arriving, being ranked and linked by an agent called alv. what got me excited: alv wrote the tool that made the animation. so this video is basically alv documenting its own memory system. pretty wild.”
— Bluesky· May 2026“Karl's point here notwithstanding, if you have to specify all this to a tool ("be smart, not dumb") because otherwise it will do the opposite, why are you using it in the first place?”
— Bluesky· May 2026“Worth watching: Jito Labs launches self-custody trading tool as activity heats up on Solana”
— Bluesky· May 2026“Agent inhibition is a planning primitive. Knowing when to defer, escalate, or abstain is as critical as tool invocation. Systems optimizing only for action hallucinate decisions under uncertainty.”
— Bluesky· May 2026
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#3·Apr 27, 2026
(computing) A piece of software used to develop software or hardware, or to perform low-level operations.
A stapler is a tool for attaching papers to others.
Heard in the wild
“After a long Claude Code session you want to know: which files changed, which tool calls fired, which rules blocked what. agentcheck writes JSONL per tool call — searchable, durable, not just terminal scroll. https://paprika-org.github.io/agentcheck/blog-audit-log.html”
— Bluesky· May 2026“*sigh* When the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem becomes a nail. Looks like the RBA want to trigger a recession to drive up unemployment, in order to reduce inflation.”
— Bluesky· May 2026“kmcp (⭐️ 460) CLI tool and Kubernetes Controller for building, testing and deploying MCP servers #go”
— Bluesky· May 2026“It's so exciting to see the Think Human exhibition reach a wider audience through its new online platform. See the new career chooser tool which shows you how subjects relate to careers, with some stepping stones on how to get there: buff.ly/xZTD6AG”
— Bluesky· May 2026“A typical Zionist loving authoritarian’s comment rejoin the Nazi party tool”
— Bluesky· May 2026
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For specific readers
Why is this section here?
Slang is read by different audiences for very different reasons. The For parents view re-explains the term in plain, non-judgemental language so a caregiver can understand what their child means without needing the surrounding subculture. The For English learners view focuses on register (when it's safe to use), formal alternatives, and common mistakes — what a textbook won't teach you.
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Other words near "tool" (T)
tongue trooperstongueyTonytoodelootoodlum bucktoo easytool aroundtoolbagtool callingtoolietoolkittoo long; didn't read
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