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A gimlet is a small hand tool used for boring holes, especially in wood. In figurative English, gimlet often suggests something piercing, narrow, or sharply observant, as in a gimlet stare.
A gimlet is a small hand tool used for boring holes, especially in wood. In figurative English, gimlet often suggests something piercing, narrow, or sharply observant, as in a gimlet stare.
The word feels absurd because it is compact and twisty, just like the tool itself. It sounds as if it could drill its own way through the sentence.
The literal tool sense came first, rooted in older European woodworking vocabulary. The figurative sense developed naturally from the idea of something that bores or pierces.
Yes. Gimlet is still used today and remains easy to understand in modern English.
Use Gimlet when you want something more vivid, distinctive, or precise than a flatter everyday alternative. It works best in writing that welcomes color and voice.
apparition, brooding, calling-card, chaperonage, doldrums
clarity, simplicity, plainness
