vbl. sb. [f. TOOL sb. and v. + -ING1.]
† 1. Provision of tools; tools collectively. Obs.
1673. Kirkman, Unlucky Citizen, 210. By such time as he and his are fitted with Clothing, Teething and Tooling, his money is gone.
2. The action of the verb TOOL; workmanship performed with some special tool; spec. a. The dressing of stone with a broad chisel; also, elaborate ornamental carving in stone or wood.
1815. J. Smith, Panorama Sci. & Art, I. 218. The larger sizes of chisels obtain the name of tools, the act of using them is called tooling, and the stone to which they have been applied is said to be tooled.
18401. De Quincey, Style & Rhet., Wks. 1858, XI. 31. The fine tooling, and delicate tracery of the cabinet artist.
1891. Edin. Rev., July, 110. The tooling of the Haram stones is peculiar, and is the same found on the later Carthaginian monuments.
b. Bookbinding. The impressing of ornamental designs upon the covers of books by means of heated tools or stamps; also applied to the designs so formed: either with gilding (gold- or gilt-tooling) or without it (blind-tooling: BLIND a. 16).
1821. G. Ormerod, Lett. to J. G. Nichols, May (in Pearsons Catal. [1886], No. 60). I would not have any lettering or tooling on the back.
1847. L. Hunt, Men, Women, & B., II. vi. 78. The charms of vellums, tall copies, and blind tooling.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., Gold-tooling, ornaments impressed by the hot-tool upon gold-leaf laid on book-covers.
1893. Q. Rev., July, 187. The tooling in gold introduced at this time came originally from the East.
3. Comb., as tooling-gouge, -iron.
1873. Tooling-gouge.
1876. Tooling-iron [see TOOL v.1].