trowel

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A flat-bladed hand tool for leveling, spreading, or shaping substances such as cement or mortar.
2. n. A small implement with a pointed, scoop-shaped blade used for digging, as in setting plants.
3. v. To spread, smooth, form, or scoop with a trowel.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A surgical instrument of approximately trowel shape, used to push back protruding parts from the field of operation.
2. n. A tool, generally consisting of a flat long triangular, oval, or oblong blade of iron or steel, fitted with a handle, used by masons, plasterers, and bricklayers for spreading and dressing mortar and plaster, and for cutting bricks, and also by molders for smoothing the surface of the sand or loam composing the mold.
3. n. A gardeners' tool, like a small spade or scoop, used for taking up plants and for other purposes. See figs. k, above.
4. n. A tool used in oil-cloth manufacturing to spread paint and remove what may be superfluous. It is made of steel, is 2 feet long, and very elastic, and has a handle near the broad end.
5. To dress, form, or apply with a trowel: as, troweled stucco.

Wiktionary

1. n. A mason’s tool, used in spreading and dressing mortar, and breaking bricks to shape them.
2. n. A gardener’s tool, shaped like a scoop, used in taking up plants, stirring soil etc.
3. n. A tool used for smoothing a mold.
4. v. transitive To apply a subtsance with a trowel.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. A mason's tool, used in spreading and dressing mortar, and breaking bricks to shape them.
2. n. A gardener's tool, somewhat like a scoop, used in taking up plants, stirring the earth, etc.
3. n. (Founding) A tool used for smoothing a mold.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a small hand tool with a handle and flat metal blade; used for scooping or spreading plaster or similar materials
2. v. use a trowel on; for light garden work or plaster work