▪ I. trowel, n.
(ˈtraʊəl)
Forms: 4–5 trowelle, 4–7 truel, 5 trowylle, 7 trewel, 5–8 trowell, 6 truell, 6–7 trewell, 8 trouel, 5– trowel; also 4 trulle, 5 troll(e, 7 trull, trule.
[ME. truel, a. OF. truele (13th c.), F. truelle (14th c.), ad. vulgar or late L. truella (1163 in Du Cange), for cl.L. trulla, dim. of trua stirring-spoon, skimmer, ladle, whence the monosyllabic form.]
1. a. A tool consisting of a flat (or, less commonly, rounded) plate of metal or wood, of various shapes, attached to a short handle; used by masons, bricklayers, plasterers, and others for spreading, moulding, or smoothing mortar, cement, and the like.
to lay it on with a trowel, to express a thing coarsely or bluntly; now spec. to flatter excessively or grossly.
| 1344 Pipe Roll 18 Edw. III, m. 45 (P.R.O.) In..iiij. hamers, iiij. Trowellis, vj hirdellis pro lymeputtes..xxx. ladlis pro cemento fundendo. 1382 Wyclif Amos vii. 7 Loo! the Lord stondynge on a wall teerid, or morterd, and in the hond of hym a truel [v.r. trulle] of masoun. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. ii. iv. (Harl. MS. 614) lf. 8 b/1 Aungels..ben seen to haue trollis & hangynge plometis and mesuris & towles & werke men. c 1440 Pallad. on Husb. i. 415 The parget of thy wough be strong & bryght; The trewel first ful ofte hit most distreyne. 1533 Elyot Cast. Helthe Pref. (1539) 1, I toke my penne in the stede of a truell. c 1570 Pride and Lowl. (1841) 32 A Brick⁓layer,..A trewell at his gyrdle weared he. 1600 Shakes. A.Y.L. i. ii. 112 Well said, that was laid on with a trowell. 1693 Evelyn De la Quint. Compl. Gard. II. 110 The said Gum must be kept hot,..to be apply'd with a kind of Wooden Trule. 1719 Free-thinker No. 118 ¶8 Mr. Thornhill [cannot] paint the Cupolo of Paul's with a Trowel. 1836 Thirlwall Greece III. xxii. 237 They supplied the place both of hods and trowels with their hands. 1887 Ruskin Præterita II. x. 362 The instrument I finally decided to be the most difficult of management was the trowel. |
b. A culinary ladle or slice of this shape.
Cf. trowel-slicer in 2.
| 1773 Lond. Chron. 7 Sept. 248/3 Fish and pudding trowells. 1855 H. Clarke Dict., Fish-trowel. |
c. A tool of this kind used in gardening, having a hollow, scoop-like, semi-cylindrical blade.
| 1796 C. Marshall Garden. iv. (1813) 52 Plants..are best put in by a small spade or trowel. 1846 J. Baxter Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4) II. 119 The compound is firmly pressed into the moulds with a gardener's trowel. 1855 Delamer Kitch. Gard. (1861) 16 The English trowel is excellent for many purposes; but besides it, it will be found convenient to have one or two long, narrow ones. |
d. An elastic flat steel instrument used in spreading the paint in the manufacture of oilcloth.
| 1845 G. Dodd Brit. Manuf. 4th Ser. v. 128 The workman holds in his right hand a kind of trowel, consisting of a long narrow blade, about a foot in length, decreasing in width towards one end, and having at the other a handle which bends back over the blade. With this trowel..the workman draws the paint over the canvas, smoothing it repeatedly. 1881 [implied in troweller]. |
e. See
quot.| 1892 Greener Breech Loader 180 A properly-made trowel will load millions of cartridges before the holes become so worn that it has to be discarded. The author uses this counting trowel in loading all his cartridges. |
2. attrib. and
Comb., as
trowel-handling,
trowel-planting,
trowel-slicer (
cf. 1 b);
trowel-shaped adj.;
trowel-bayonet, a bayonet resembling a mason's trowel, which may be used as a light entrenchment tool, or when detached from the rifle, as a hatchet (Knight
Dict. Mech. 1877);
trowel-beak, a bird, a Sumatran broadbill,
Corydon sumatranus (
Cent. Dict. 1891);
trowel-gauge, an instrument for setting the nippers on a cotton-combing machine;
trowel-man, one who uses a trowel;
spec. a mason, bricklayer, or the like; also
fig.| 1902 Thornley Cotton Combing Mach. 151 In setting the nippers great assistance is rendered by the use of a *trowel gauge. |
| 1887 Ruskin Præterita II. x. 362 note, A piece of *trowel-handling as subtle as spreading the mortar under a brick. |
| 1632 B. Jonson Magn. Lady ii. vii, A hard-handed, and stiff ignorance, worthy a *Trewel, or a Hammer-man. 1737 Salmon's Country Builder's Estimator (ed. 2) 69 A Trowel-man and Labourer..can perform one Rod of rough Work in five Days. 1756 Monitor No. 73 II. 203 It has been the general defect of English politicians to proceed without a plan; ignorant trowel-men in the service of the state. |
| 1815 J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art II. 657, 7. Furrow planting... 8. Dibbling... 9. *Trowel planting. |
| 1776 Withering Brit. Plants (1796) III. 573 [Cochlearia danica] All the leaves *trowel-shaped. 1897 M. Kingsley W. Africa 454 Broad, trowel-shaped, almost triangular daggers. |
| 1862 Catal. Internat. Exhib., Brit. II. No. 6504 A very large bread knife, and *trowel slicer. |
Hence
ˈtrowelful, as much as can be taken up on a trowel (also
fig.).
| 1580 Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong. s.v. Truellée, A trowell full of plaster or morter. 1801 Ld. Minto Let. in Edin. Rev. Apr. (1896) 405 Cramming Nelson with trowelfuls of flattery. 1843 Ld. Cockburn Circuit Journeys (1883) 184 Not one trowelful of lime. |
▪ II. trowel, v. (
ˈtraʊəl)
[f. prec. n.] 1. trans. To spread, smooth, or dress (a surface) with or as with a trowel; to form or mould with a trowel; in
quot. c 1670, to coat thickly
with.
| c 1670 Ld. Orrery in Daily Chron. 12 June (1903) 3/3 The Women are never old, for the Wrinkles are well filled up by Paint,..the Women trowel themselves with red. 1703 Moxon Mech. Exerc. 249 They finish the Plastering..either by Trowelling and brishing it over with fair Water, or else by laying a thin Coat of fine stuff..and..Trowelling and brishing it. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. VIII. iv. iii. 99 They [wasps] stick their load of paste on that part where they make their walls and partitions; they tread it close with their feet, and trowel it with their trunks. 1842 Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl. V. 337/2 After being properly trowelled, it is jointed to imitate stone. |
2. To put, place, or move (something) with or as with a trowel; to lay on with a trowel,
i.e. thickly or clumsily; often
fig. of flattery or laudation.
| 1772 Nugent tr. Hist. Friar Gerund I. 502 The good gentleman trowels on himself the plaister of praise without reserve. 1792 Coleridge Lett., to G. Coleridge 24 If ever hog's lard is pleasing it is when our superiors trowel it on. 1841 Thackeray Men & Pictures 111 The skies are trowelled on; the light-vapouring distances are as thick as plum-pudding. 1898 J. Hollingshead Gaiety Chron. i. 45 Mortar and cement were trowelled into their proper places. |
Hence
ˈtrowelled ppl. a.;
trowelled stucco, stucco of the best description intended to be painted;
ˈtrowelling vbl. n.; also
ˈtroweller, one who uses a trowel.
| 1823 P. Nicholson Pract. Build. 375 *Trowelled-stucco is a very neat kind of work, much used in dining-rooms, vestibules, stair-cases, &c. 1913 Daily News 31 Mar. 6 The roof..has a fall of 5 in. in 13 ft. and was simply left with a trowelled finish. |
| 1611 Cotgr., Truelleur, a *Troweller; a Plaisterer, or any one that workes with a Trowell. 1881 Instr. Census Clerks (1885) 80 Floor Cloth, Oil Cloth Manufacture... Oil Skin Maker, Dealer. Silk Oiler. Trowler. |
| 1630 R. Johnson's Kingd. & Commw. 598 Their Painting is meere steyning or *trowelling in respect of ours. |