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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.

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

"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

Etymology

Origin of tooling

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

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

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

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

Customer tooling refers to the idea that customers might take on chip design themselves.

From MarketWatch • Dec. 11, 2025

It was November 1982, and I was tooling down Virginia State Route 460 in my green 1972 Volkswagen at four A.M.

From "The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother" by James McBride

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.