trowel

English

A gardening trowel (2).

Etymology

From Middle English trowell, trouel, truel, from Middle French truelle, from Late Latin truella, from Classical Latin trulla, the diminutive of trua (“ladle”).

Pronunciation

• (deprecated use of |lang= parameter)

  Audio (US)

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• (deprecated use of |lang= parameter)

  Audio (UK)

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• (deprecated use of |lang= parameter) IPA^(key): /ˈtɹaʊ.əl/
• (deprecated use of |lang= parameter) Rhymes: -aʊəl

Noun

trowel (plural trowels)

1. A mason’s tool, used in spreading and dressing mortar, and breaking bricks to shape them.
2. A gardener’s tool, shaped like a scoop, used in taking up plants, stirring soil etc.

   I need to dig a hole for these begonias; would you pass me that trowel?

3. A tool used for smoothing a mold.

Derived terms

• pointing-trowel

Translations

mason's tool

• Assamese: খন্তি (khonti)
• Catalan: paleta (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 鏝／镘 (zh) (màn), 镘 (zh) (màn), 抹子 (zh) (mǒzi)

• Dutch: troffel (nl) m, truweel (nl) n
• Finnish: laastilapio
• French: truelle (fr) f
• German: Kelle (de) f, Maurerkelle (de) f, Mörtelkelle f
• Greek: μιστρί n (mistrí)
• Irish: lián m
• Italian: cazzuola (it) f
• Japanese: こて (ja) (kote), トロエル (toroeru)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Macedonian: мистрија f (mistrija)
• Norman: trouelle f
• Panjabi:ਕਾਂਡੀ f (kāṇḍī)
• Persian: ماله (fa) (mâle)
• Portuguese: colher de pedreiro f, trolha (pt) f
• Romanian: mistrie (ro) f
• Russian: мастеро́к (ru) m (masterók), ке́льма (ru) f (kélʹma)
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: łopatka f

• Spanish: paleta de albañil f, cuchara de albañil f, trulla (es) f
• Vietnamese: bay (vi)
• Welsh: trywel m

scoop-like gardening tool

• Catalan: desplantador m
• Dutch: tuinschep
• Finnish: istutuslapio (fi)
• French: déplantoir (fr) m
• German: Pflanzkelle f, Pflanzschaufel f, Handschaufel f
• Irish: lián m
• Italian: paletta (it) f
• Korean: 모종삽 (mojongsap)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Persian: بیلچه (fa) (bilče)
• Portuguese: espátula (pt) f
• Russian: садо́вый сово́к m (sadóvyj sovók)
• Spanish: pal(it)a de jardinería f, desplantador m
• Swedish: trädgårdsspade c, planteringsspade
• Tagalog: dulos
• Welsh: trywel m

tool used for smoothing mold

• Finnish: tasoituslasta
• French: gâche (fr) f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• German: Glättkelle (de) f, Spachtel m, Spatel m, Hohlspatel m

Verb

trowel (third-person singular simple present trowels, present participle troweling or trowelling, simple past and past participle troweled or trowelled)

1. (transitive) To apply a substance with a trowel.

   He troweled the coarse mix with a twist, leaving a pattern of arcs.

2. (transitive) To dress with a mason's trowel.
3. (figurative) To apply something heavily or unsubtly.
   • 2014, Steve Rose, "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: a primate scream - first look review", The Guardian, 1 July 2014:

     The whole Planet of the Apes set-up has been ripe for metaphor – from slavery and Afro-American revolution to European conquest of the Americas, even the war on terror. But mercifully, there's no big subtext being troweled on here.

Translations

to apply with a trowel

• Dutch: troffelen
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Finnish: lapata, lapioida (fi); tasoittaa (fi), tasoitella (fi) (to smooth)

Further reading

• trowel on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Template:projectlink

Anagrams

• Towler, Wolter