Word.ws English Dictionary

under tow

under 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 under tow

What is under tow the alternative form of?
Under tow is the alternative form of in tow.

Words near under tow in the dictionary

  1. under the surface
  2. under the table
  3. under the weather
  4. under the wire
  5. under the yoke
  6. under tow
  7. under water
  8. under way
  9. under weigh
  10. under wraps
  11. under-

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: under 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: “under tow.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/under_tow. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.