device vs tool

device

noun
  • Any piece of equipment made for a particular purpose, especially a mechanical or electrical one. 

  • A peripheral device; an item of hardware. 

  • An improvised explosive device, home-made bomb 

  • A technique that an author or speaker uses to evoke an emotional response in the audience; a rhetorical device. 

  • An image used in whole or in part as a trademark or service mark. 

  • A motto, emblem, or other mark used to distinguish the bearer from others. A device differs from a badge or cognizance primarily as it is a personal distinction, and not a badge borne by members of the same house successively. 

  • A project or scheme, often designed to deceive; a stratagem; an artifice. 

  • An image or logo denoting official or proprietary authority or provenience. 

tool

noun
  • Any piece of equipment used in a profession, e.g. a craftman's tools. 

  • A mechanical device intended to make a task easier. 

  • A penis, notably with a sexual or erotic connotation. 

  • A person or group which is used or controlled, usually unwittingly, by another person or group. 

  • Something to perform an operation; an instrument; a means. 

  • A gun. 

  • A piece of software used to develop software or hardware, or to perform low-level operations. 

  • An obnoxious or uptight person. 

verb
  • To equip with tools. 

  • To work on or shape with tools, e.g., hand-tooled leather. 

  • To work very hard. 

  • To intentionally attack the ball so that it deflects off a blocker out of bounds. 

  • To travel in a vehicle; to ride or drive. 

  • To put down another person (possibly in a subtle, hidden way), and in that way to use him or her to meet a goal. 

How often have the words device and tool occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )