turrel

English

Etymology

Compare Old French touroul (“a little wooden instrument to fasten doors or windows”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈtʌɹəl/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈtɝ.əl/

Noun

turrel (plural turrels)

1. A tool used primarily by coopers to bore holes.
   • 1881, Alfred Poulet, A Treatise on Foreign Bodies in Surgical Practice - Volume 1, page 257:

     If the foreign body is so firmly fixed as to resist traction, or if it is impossible to seize it, we will find it useful, if its composition will permit, to employ a gimlet or turrel, the instrument being introduced by gliding it along the left index finger.

   • 1888, Jules Verne, Adrift in Pacific or, Two Years' Vacation:

     There were plenty of tools in the carpenter's chest, bags of nails, turrels, screws, and iron nuts and bands of all sorts for repairing the yacht.

   • 1890, Franz Winckel, A Text-book of obstetrics, page 660:

     Guyon (Fig. 145, a, b, c, d ) bores a turrel ( a cooper's tool ) into the vault of the cranium and trephines with the crown of the instrument set over this.