gimlet

[gim-lit]

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. Nautical.,  Also gimblet to rotate (a suspended anchor) to a desired position.

adjective

1. able to penetrate or bore through.

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

3. 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 )

Other Word Forms

• gimlety adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of gimlet¹

1375–1425; late Middle English < Old French guimbelet < Germanic; compare Middle Dutch wimmel wimble

Word History and Origins

Origin of gimlet¹

C15: from Old French guimbelet, of Germanic origin, see _wimble

Example Sentences

His Joel had a gimlet eye and wore his heart on his sleeve; he was sometimes goofy but always in on the joke.

From Los Angeles Times

That is, until the gin gimlets started to flow at sundown.

From Salon

No detail is too small for Caro’s gimlet eye, which is currently trained on finishing Volume 5.

From Los Angeles Times

With a gimlet eye and a surprisingly girlish laugh, Vera is cantankerous, impatient, intensely private, unapologetically disheveled and utterly glorious.

From Los Angeles Times

Watching it all with a gimlet eye, Mary — his old friend who’s still helplessly in love with him — takes Frank to task for sacrificing his theatrical partnership with Charley for hollow Hollywood success.

From Los Angeles Times