gimlet

[ gim-lit ]
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noun
  1. a small tool for boring holes, consisting of a shaft with a pointed screw at one end and a handle perpendicular to the shaft at the other.

  2. a cocktail made with gin or vodka, sweetened lime juice, and sometimes soda water.

verb (used with object)
  1. to pierce with or as if with a gimlet.

  2. Also gim·blet [gim-blit]. /ˈgɪm blɪt/. Nautical. to rotate (a suspended anchor) to a desired position.

adjective
  1. able to penetrate or bore through.

Origin of gimlet

1
1375–1425; late Middle English <Old French guimbelet<Germanic; compare Middle Dutch wimmelwimble

Other words from gimlet

  • gim·let·y, adjective

Words Nearby gimlet

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use gimlet in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for gimlet

gimlet

/ (ˈɡɪmlɪt) /


noun
  1. a small hand tool consisting of a pointed spiral tip attached at right angles to a handle, used for boring small holes in wood

  2. US a cocktail consisting of half gin or vodka and half lime juice

  1. a eucalyptus of W Australia having a twisted bole

verb
  1. (tr) to make holes in (wood) using a gimlet

adjective
  1. penetrating; piercing (esp in the phrase gimlet-eyed)

Origin of gimlet

1
C15: from Old French guimbelet, of Germanic origin, see wimble

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012