tool

1. n.A program used primarily to create, manipulate, modify, or analyze other programs, such as a compiler or an editor or a cross-referencing program. Oppose {app}, {operating system}; see also {toolchain}.
2. [Unix] An application program with a simple, `transparent' (typically text-stream) interface designed specifically to be used in programmed combination with other tools (see {filter}, {plumbing}).
3. [MIT: general to students there] vi. To work; to study (connotes tedium). The TMRC Dictionary defined this as "to set one's brain to the grindstone". See {hack}.
4. n. [MIT] A student who studies too much and hacks too little. (MIT's student humor magazine rejoices in the name Tool and Die.)

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