tooling

American  

[too-ling] / ˈtu lɪŋ /

noun

1. work done with a tool or tools; tooled ornamentation, as on wood, stone, or leather.

2. Machinery.

   1. a number of tools, as in a particular factory.

   2. the planning and arrangement of tools for a particular manufacturing process.

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tooling British  

/ ˈtuːlɪŋ /

noun

1. any decorative work done with a tool, esp a design stamped onto a book cover, piece of leatherwork, etc

2. the selection, provision, and setting up of tools, esp for a machining operation

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Etymology

Origin of tooling

First recorded in 1665–75; tool + -ing ¹

Example Sentences

Zuckerberg said on a recent earnings call that Meta is investing in AI-native tooling so individuals can get more done and the company can flatten some teams.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 24, 2026

“The company sits at multiple control points across the enterprise estate—cloud infrastructure, productivity software, developer tooling and security — which should allow it to shape enterprise AI adoption rather than respond to it,” Jader wrote.

From Barron's • Mar. 23, 2026

He also pointed to “increased noise around hyperscalers” leaning toward customer-owned tooling, which is when the customer has control over the manufacturing process and can choose different suppliers for different parts.

From MarketWatch • Mar. 4, 2026

Arsenal-1 will use a common set of commercial manufacturing tooling, machinery, and processes for every type of autonomous vehicle that Anduril produces, the company said.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 22, 2026

The lights of the cars tooling up the ramp blinded us as we shuffled backwards through the snow that had started falling, like, two minutes after we’d left Delaney’s in our lightweight concert garb.

From "Anthem of a Reluctant Prophet" by Joanne Proulx

Related Words

• color
• design
• finery
• ornament
• plaque
• ribbon
• trinket
• wreath