- a small garden tool with a curved metal part for lifting plants and digging holesTopics Gardensc2
Definitions on the go
Look up any word in the dictionary offline, anytime, anywhere with the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary app.
- a small tool with a flat metal part, used in building for spreading cement or plaster
Word OriginMiddle English (as a noun): from Old French truele, from medieval Latin truella, alteration of Latin trulla ‘scoop’, diminutive of trua.
Idioms
See trowel in the Oxford Advanced American Dictionarylay it on with a trowel
- (informal) to talk about somebody/something in a way that makes them or it seem much better or much worse than they really are; to exaggerate something
- He was laying the flattery on with a trowel.
Check pronunciation:
trowel