tow
/təʊ/US/toʊ/
tow verb: to pull something behind one, such as by using a line, chain, or tongue.
Verb
tow (third-person singular simple present tows, present participle towing, simple past and past participle towed)
- To pull something behind one, such as by using a line, chain, or tongue.
- Near-synonyms: draw, haul, pull, trail
- In its current specification it cannot be driven and must be towed to its work location by a locomotive.2022 September 7, “At the cutting edge of NR's track work”, in RAIL, number 965, page 40, photo caption
- To aid someone behind by shielding them from wind resistance.
Noun (1)
tow (plural tows)
- The act of towing and the condition of being towed.
- It isn't the car's battery; I think I need a tow.
- Something, such as a tugboat, that tows.
- Something, such as a barge, that is towed.
- A rope or cable used in towing.
- A speed increase given by driving in front of another car on a straight, which causes a slipstream for the car behind.
- On Saturday, Vettel was very unhappy with Leclerc's failure to work out a way through the traffic and give him a tow for the second runs in qualifying, as had been agreed.2019 September 8, Andrew Benson, BBC Sport
Noun (2)
tow (countable and uncountable, plural tows)
- An untwisted bundle of fibres such as cellulose acetate, flax, hemp or jute.
- And the strong shall be as towe, and the maker of it as a sparke, and they shall both burne together, and none shall quench them.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Isaiah 1:31
- Meanwhile the farmer's wife was at home all alone, and while she was sitting and spinning her tow, she never noticed a Troll who had crept through the window into the next room, and was at the beer barrel drawing off the liquor into his copper kettle.1828, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, volume I, London: William Harrison Ainsworth, page 187
- The short, coarse, less desirable fibres separated by hackling from the finer longer fibres (line).
Noun (3) capitalized: TOW
TOW (plural TOWs)
- Initialism of tube-launched, optically tracked, wire-guided: a kind of antitank missile.
- The American-made TOW antitank missiles began arriving in the region in 2013, through a covert program run by the United States, Saudi Arabia and other allies to help certain C.I.A.-vetted insurgent groups battle the Syrian government.2015 October 12, Anne Barnard, Karam Shoumali, “U.S. Weaponry Is Turning Syria Into Proxy War With Russia”, in The New York Times, →ISSN
- Synonyms:
- TOW missile
Phrase capitalized: TOW
TOW
- Initialism of The One with ... or The One Where ...: used to refer to episodes of the American television sitcom Friends.
- TOW the Prom Video
- Yay! It's coming out this Friday! Staring Jennifer Aniston, Ben Stiller (played the Rachel's boyfriend in TOW The Screamer), Hank Azaria (David) and Debra Messing...3 Friends people. Looks funny.2004 January 12, Adele, “Along Came Polly”, in alt.tv.friends (Usenet)
Proper noun capitalized: Tow
Tow (plural Tows)
- A surname.
tow meaning in Hindi, Urdu, Telugu and Punjabi
tow in Hindi
- टॉव करें
tow in Urdu
- ٹاو کریں
tow in Telugu
- టవ్ చేయండి
tow in Punjabi
- ਟੋਅ
Examples of tow in a sentence
- When towing a trailer, use the turnouts to let faster traffic pass.
- Thanks for driving out here and towing me out of the ditch. You're a superhero!
- The ship ran aground and had to be towed back out to sea.
Synonyms of tow
Forms of tow
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | tows |
| present participle | towing |
| past participle | towed |
| past | towed |
| Noun | |
| plural | tows |
| plural | TOWs |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Tows |
Origin of tow
From Middle English towen, from Old English togian (“to tow”), from Proto-West Germanic *togōn, from Proto-Germanic *tugōną (“to draw, pull”), from Proto-Indo-European *dewk- (“to draw, pull; to lead”). Cognates Cognate with German zögern (“to hesitate, pause”), Faroese and Icelandic toga (“to pull”), French touer (“to tow, tug a ship”); also Welsh dwyn (“to steal; to take; to bring to”), Latin dūcō (“to conduct, guide, lead; to take; to draw, pull; to consider, think; to prolong; to march; to forge”), Ancient Greek δαδύσσομαι (dadússomai, “to be distracted”), Albanian nduk (“to pluck out, pull out, tear”), Central Kurdish دۆشین (doşîn, “to milk”), Northern Kurdish dotin, doşîn, دۆشین (doşîn, “to milk”), Ossetian ду́цын (dúcyn, “to milk”), Pashto لوشل (lwašal, “to milk; to extort”), Persian دوشیدن (dōšīdan / dušidan), دوشتن (duštan), دوختن (dōxtan / duxtan, “to milk”). Related to tug.
From Middle English touw, from Old English tow- (“spinning”) (in compounds, e.g. towcræft, towhūs, towlic), from Proto-Germanic *tawwą; compare Old Norse tó (“uncleansed wool”), Dutch touw (“rope”). Perhaps cognate with Old English tawian (“prepare for use”), Gothic 𐍄𐌰𐌿𐌾𐌰𐌽 (taujan, “do, make”).
* As an English surname, variant of Tough, from the adjective tough. Also compare the Scottish surname Tulloch. * As a Chinese surname, converged from several Romanizations, such as 陶 (Dao), 曹 (cáo) (Cao), 杜 (dù) (Du), 蘇 /苏 (sū) (Su).
Words formed from tow
- aerotow
- betow
- heretog
- towable
- towage
- towaway
- towback
- towball
- towboat
- towbody
- towee
- tower
- towfish
- towline
- towmaster
- townet
- towpath
- towrope
- towship
- towtruck
- untowed
- wantoe
- in tow
- on tow
- ski tow
- tow bar
- tow hitch
- tow iron
- tow ring
- tow rope
- tow truck
- under tow
- undertow
- towy
- swingling tow
- tow-colored
- tow haired
- tow-haired
- towhead
- towheaded
- towlike
- tow linen
- towsack
Phrases with tow
- Tow Law
- tow bars
- tow line
- tow irons
- tow lines
- tow rings
- tow ropes
- tow trucks
- tow hitches
- TOW missile
- TOW missiles
- tow the line
1 more phrasesFewer phrases
Words that rhyme with tow
Questions about tow
- What does tow mean?
- Tow means to pull something behind one, such as by using a line, chain, or tongue.
- What is tow in Hindi?
- Tow in Hindi is टॉव करें. See Tow meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is tow?
- Tow can be a verb, a noun, a phrase or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce tow?
- Tow is pronounced /təʊ/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of tow?
- The past tense of tow is towed.
Words near tow in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: tow (page history and authors); TOW (page history and authors); Tow (page history and authors); tow (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); tow (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); tow (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); tow (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-tow.wav.
Cite this entry: “tow.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/tow. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.