Comment by NateEag
2 hours ago
> Notice your Webster’s doesn’t include the insult usage.
What exactly do you think
> a word of reproach
means?
2 hours ago
> Notice your Webster’s doesn’t include the insult usage.
What exactly do you think
> a word of reproach
means?
righthand is right about that one. 1913 Webster's says it's a word of reproach, but the example that follows is obviously not the modern insult, which doesn't even have an instrumental sense.
Webster's dictionary currently glosses this sense of tool (n.(1)(3)(b)) as "a foolish or unlikable person : JERK".
( https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tool )