Word.ws English Dictionary

on tow

on tow is the alternative form of in tow.

Meaning of in tow

Prepositional phrase

  1. (usually) Pulled by means of an attached line, such as a cable, chain, or rope.
    • "Do you remember the ship? . . . I mean the dismasted eighty-four that was in tow of the frigate."1842, James Fenimore Cooper, chapter 13, in The Wing and Wing
    Synonyms:
    on tow, under tow
  2. (figuratively, usually) Following or accompanying under the direction of another, as if attached by a line and being pulled.
    • "He's got a man from Cincinnati in tow, and they are going to dine at the Calumet Club."1903, Frank Norris, chapter 2, in The Pit

Questions about on tow

What is on tow the alternative form of?
On tow is the alternative form of in tow.

Words near on tow in the dictionary

  1. on top of one's game
  2. on top of that
  3. on top of the world
  4. on topic
  5. on tour
  6. on tow
  7. on track
  8. on trend
  9. on trial
  10. on trial for one's life
  11. on TV

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: on tow (page history and authors); in tow (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “on tow.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/on_tow. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.