AWL

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does awl mean? 

• AWL (noun)
  The noun AWL has 1 sense:

1. a pointed tool for marking surfaces or for punching small holes

  Familiarity information: AWL used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• AWL (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A pointed tool for marking surfaces or for punching small holes

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("awl" is a kind of...):

hand tool (a tool used with workers' hands)

Meronyms (parts of "awl"):

haft; helve (the handle of a weapon or tool)

point (sharp end)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "awl"):

bradawl; pricker (an awl for making small holes for brads or small screws)

scratch awl; scribe; scriber (a sharp-pointed awl for marking wood or metal to be cut)

 Context examples 

I desired the queen’s woman to save for me the combings of her majesty’s hair, whereof in time I got a good quantity; and consulting with my friend the cabinet-maker, who had received general orders to do little jobs for me, I directed him to make two chair-frames, no larger than those I had in my box, and to bore little holes with a fine awl, round those parts where I designed the backs and seats; through these holes I wove the strongest hairs I could pick out, just after the manner of cane chairs in England.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)