Meaning

noun an implement used in the practice of a vocation

noun the means whereby some act is accomplished

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

originFrom Middle English tool, tol, from Old English tōl (“tool, implement, instrument”, literally “that with which one prepares something”), perhaps borrowed from Old Norse tól, but at any rate ultimately from Proto-Germanic *tōlą (“that which is used in preparation, tool”), from Proto-Indo-European *dewh₂- (“to tie to, secure”), equivalent to taw (“to prepare”) + -le (agent suffix). Cognate with…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0