Paraphernalia vs. Tool

Paraphernalianoun

Miscellaneous items, especially the set of equipment required for a particular activity; stuff.

‘He has an impressive collection of bicycling paraphernalia, but he doesn't ride very often anymore.’;

Toolnoun

A mechanical device intended to make a task easier.

‘Hand me that tool, would you?’; ‘I don't have the right tools to start fiddling around with the engine.’;

Paraphernalianoun

(archaic) Things a woman owns, apart from her dowry.

Toolnoun

Equipment used in a profession, e.g., tools of the trade.

Paraphernalia

Something reserved to a wife, over and above her dower, being chiefly apparel and ornaments suited to her degree.

Toolnoun

Something to perform an operation; an instrument; a means.

Paraphernalia

Personal belongings; ornaments; finery; sundry objects carried about for personal convenience.

Toolnoun

(computing) A piece of software used to develop software or hardware, or to perform low-level operations.

‘The software engineer had been developing lots of EDA tools.’; ‘a tool for recovering deleted files from a disk’;

Paraphernalia

The appendages, apparatus, or equipment used in a particular activity; as, surveyors unloading their paraphernalia from a van.

Toolnoun

A person or group which is used or controlled, usually unwittingly, by another person or group.

‘He was a tool, no more than a pawn to her.’;

Paraphernalianoun

equipment consisting of miscellaneous articles needed for a particular operation or sport etc.

Toolnoun

(slang) Penis.

Paraphernalianoun

miscellaneous articles, especially the equipment needed for a particular activity

‘drills, saws, and other paraphernalia necessary for home improvements’;

Toolnoun

An obnoxious or uptight person.

‘He won't sell us tickets because it's 3:01, and they went off sale at 3. That guy's such a tool.’;

Paraphernalianoun

trappings associated with a particular institution or activity that are regarded as superfluous

‘the rituals and paraphernalia of government’;

Toolverb

(transitive) To work on or shape with tools, e.g., hand-tooled leather.

Paraphernalia

Paraphernalia most commonly refers to a group of apparatus, equipment, or furnishing used for a particular activity. For example, an avid sports fan may cover his walls with football and/or basketball paraphernalia.

Toolverb

(transitive) To equip with tools.

Toolverb

(intransitive) To work very hard.

Toolverb

To put down another person (possibly in a subtle, hidden way), and in that way to use him or her to meet a goal.

‘Dude, he's not your friend. He's just tooling you.’;

Toolverb

To intentionally attack the ball so that it deflects off a blocker out of bounds.

Toolverb

To drive (a coach, etc.)

Toolverb

To travel in a vehicle; to ride or drive.

Toolnoun

An instrument such as a hammer, saw, plane, file, and the like, used in the manual arts, to facilitate mechanical operations; any instrument used by a craftsman or laborer at his work; an implement; as, the tools of a joiner, smith, shoe-maker, etc.; also, a cutter, chisel, or other part of an instrument or machine that dresses work.

Toolnoun

A machine for cutting or shaping materials; - also called machine tool.

Toolnoun

Hence, any instrument of use or service.

‘That angry fool . . . Whipping her horse, did with his smarting toolOft whip her dainty self.’;

Toolnoun

A weapon.

‘Him that is aghast of every tool.’;

Toolnoun

A person used as an instrument by another person; - a word of reproach; as, men of intrigue have their tools, by whose agency they accomplish their purposes.

‘I was not made for a minion or a tool.’;

Toolverb

To shape, form, or finish with a tool.

Toolverb

To drive, as a coach.

Toolverb

To travel in a vehicle; to ride or drive.

‘Boys on their bicycles tooling along the well-kept roads.’;

Toolnoun

an implement used in the practice of a vocation

Toolnoun

the means whereby some act is accomplished;

‘my greed was the instrument of my destruction’; ‘science has given us new tools to fight disease’;

Toolnoun

a person who is controlled by others and is used to perform unpleasant or dishonest tasks for someone else

Toolnoun

obscene terms for penis

Toolverb

drive;

‘The convertible tooled down the street’;

Toolverb

ride in a car with no particular goal and just for the pleasure of it;

‘We tooled down the street’;

Toolverb

furnish with tools

Toolverb

work with a tool

Toolnoun

a device or implement, especially one held in the hand, used to carry out a particular function

‘gardening tools’;

Toolnoun

a thing used to help perform a job

‘computers are an essential tool’; ‘the ability to write clearly is a tool of the trade’;

Toolnoun

a person used or exploited by another

‘the beautiful Estella is Miss Havisham's tool’;

Toolnoun

a piece of software that carries out a particular function, typically creating or modifying another program.

Toolnoun

a distinct design in the tooling of a book.

Toolnoun

a small stamp or roller used to make a tooled design.

Toolnoun

a man's penis.

Toolnoun

a stupid, irritating, or contemptible man

‘that guy is such a tool’;

Toolverb

impress a design on (leather, especially a leather book cover)

‘volumes bound in green leather and tooled in gold’;

Toolverb

equip or be equipped with tools for industrial production

‘the factory must be tooled to produce the models’; ‘they were tooling up for production’;

Toolverb

be or become armed, especially for criminal activity

‘they were tooled up with baseball bats’;

Toolverb

drive or ride in a casual or leisurely manner

‘tooling around town in a pink Rolls-Royce’;

Toolverb

dress (stone) with a chisel.

Tool

A tool is an object that can extend an individual's ability to modify features of the surrounding environment. Although many animals use simple tools, only human beings, whose use of stone tools dates back hundreds of millennia, have been observed using tools to make other tools.