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

At a sprawling factory in Louisville, Ky., where Ford used to build gas-powered SUVs, crews are working to set up tooling and the new trio of assembly lines to build the EV.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 5, 2026

Additionally, Shi sees agentic AI EDA tools easing the labor bottleneck for customer-owned tooling, or the process of a customer, rather than the chip supplier or manufacturer, owning the chip-manufacturing tools and equipment.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 20, 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

Luria says Broadcom indicated that customer-owned tooling initiatives haven’t historically had much success.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 6, 2026

In short order, I was tooling around the neighborhood with something approaching skill.

From "Schooled" by Gordon Korman

Related Words

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