A tool with a rotating cutting tip used to make holes in hard materials, or repetitive practice exercises designed to develop skills through repetition.
From Middle Dutch drillen meaning 'to bore, turn around'. The military sense of repetitive training exercises developed in the 17th century from the idea of 'boring' knowledge into soldiers through repetition.
The phrase 'drill sergeant' comes from 18th-century military training where precision marching was practiced with the same repetitive intensity as boring holes. Modern dental drills spin at up to 400,000 RPM, faster than most jet engines.
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