tow
verb (used with object)
to pull or haul (a car, barge, trailer, etc.) by a rope, chain, or other device.
tow
1 American
[toh]
/ toʊ /
verb (used with object)
-
tows,
present (3rd person singular)
-
towed,
past participle, past
-
towing
present participle
noun
-
an act or instance of towing.
-
something being towed.
-
something, as a boat or truck, that tows.
-
a rope, chain, metal bar, or other device for towing.
The trailer is secured to the car by a metal tow.
idioms
-
in tow,
-
in the state of being towed.
-
under one's guidance; in one's charge.
-
as a follower, admirer, or companion.
a professor who always had a graduate student in tow.
-
-
under tow, in the condition of being towed; in tow.
tow
2
American
[toh]
/ toʊ /
noun
-
the fiber of flax, hemp, or jute prepared for spinning by beating.
-
the shorter, less desirable flax fibers separated from line fibers in combing.
-
synthetic filaments prior to spinning.
adjective
tow
3
American
[toh]
/ toʊ /
noun
Scot.
TOW
4
American
[toh]
/ toʊ /
noun
Military.
tow
1
British
/ təʊ /
verb
noun
-
the act or an instance of towing
-
the state of being towed (esp in the phrases in tow, under tow, on tow )
-
something towed
-
something used for towing
-
in one's charge or under one's influence
-
informal (in motor racing, etc) the act of taking advantage of the slipstream of another car (esp in the phrase get a tow )
-
short for ski tow
tow
2
British
/ təʊ /
noun
-
the fibres of hemp, flax, jute, etc, in the scutched state
-
synthetic fibres preparatory to spinning
-
the coarser fibres discarded after combing
tow
More Idioms
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
towsimple
-
towssimple
-
have towedperfect
-
has towedperfect
-
am towingprogressive
-
are towingprogressive
-
is towingprogressive
-
have been towingperfect progressive
-
has been towingperfect progressive
Past
-
towedsimple
-
had towedperfect
-
was towingprogressive
-
were towingprogressive
-
had been towingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of tow1
First recorded before 1000; Middle English verb touen, towe, Old English togian “to pull by force, drag, pull”; cognate with Middle High German zogen, German ziehen “to draw, tug, drag”; the noun is derivative of the verb; see tug
Origin of tow2
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English tou, tow(e), tough “unworked flax,” Old English tōw- (in tōwlīc “pertaining to weaving,” tōwhūs “spinning house”); akin to Old Norse tō “wool”
Origin of tow3
First recorded in 1500–20; late Middle English (Scots); Old English toh- (in tohlīne “towline”); cognate with Old Norse tog “rope, line, towline”; see origin at tow 1
Origin of TOW4
First recorded in 1970–75; abbreviation of t(ube-launched), o(ptically-guided), w(ire-tracked missile)
Explanation
To tow something is to drag or pull it, the way a truck will tow your car away if you park it illegally. A boat can tow a smaller boat behind it, and a person can even tow another person: "I had to tow my little brother down the hall by his arm to get him to leave the party." You can use tow as a noun as well: "My car won't start. Can I get a tow to the gas station?" Sometimes the chain or rope that's used to tow something is also called a tow.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
“I wondered what that meant — I thought it was some code,” the 33-year-old tow truck driver told me over a Zoom call this week.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2026
Those strolls often take him to the engineering building, the campus’s data center or its labs, a go-to with visitors in tow.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026
The Italian, who leads the championship from Russell by 25 points, beat Red Bull's Max Verstappen by 0.317secs, even though the four-time champion had the help of a tow from team-mate Isack Hadjar.
From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2026
It will then vie to tow Swift into a stable orbit over the course of at least a month, rescuing it from destruction by moving it about 300 kilometers higher.
From Barron's ● Jun. 30, 2026
She flashed her teeth at him, then closed her mouth as several courtiers strode past, servants in tow.
From "Throne of Glass" by Sarah J. Maas
Most countries refused to sell them to Iran, so the unit started copying Soviet and North Korean designs, and later American Stinger and TOW antitank missiles captured in Afghanistan.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 8, 2026
Most recently, the Pentagon announced that 50 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles and 500 TOW anti-tank missiles would be drawn from U.S. stocks and sent to Ukraine.
From Washington Times ● Jan. 10, 2023
The TOW missiles being sent to Ukraine can either be set up on a heavy tripod or loaded onto the back of a vehicle like a Humvee.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 22, 2022
The big prize, however, was the BGM-71 TOW weapons system.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 10, 2015
They could put it on a separate boat and TOW it to America.
From "The (Mostly) True Story of Cleopatra's Needle" by Dan Gutman
“It hauls ass and tows like a beast. Metaphorically, it might as well have a Superman cape and a Captain America shield.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 21, 2025
David Chiu, whose office later alleged that one of the couple’s companies was profiting from illegal tows.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 15, 2025
Six days a week, Mr. Sawan, 55, a father of five, tows batches of fruit that weigh 1,500 pounds to a nearby processing plant, often as planes buzz overhead, misting down pesticides.
From New York Times ● Dec. 30, 2023
The truck is down on I-5 and tows are currently getting it upright.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 1, 2023
Other days, in the hours after lessons, Werner tows his little sister through the mine complex in a wagon he has assembled from cast-off parts.
From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
“Not that many people can say they towed a rocket, right?”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 22, 2026
The fire department responded and checked our blood pressure and pulse, but both vehicles had to be towed from the scene.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 3, 2026
Emergency responders surrounded each vessel with four firefighting tugboats, separated them and towed them away from critical port infrastructure while battling the flames.
From Barron's ● Aug. 1, 2026
River, which a group of artists, environmental activists and volunteers towed behind an adult tricycle along the river’s bike path.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2026
Many of the little girls towed baby brothers and sisters along, some in homemade wagons, others in busted-down baby buggies.
From "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith
Ewart, like others, didn’t see the newer inline-six engine as reliable and robust for towing as the old-school engine.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
In the spring of 2024, a Marine Corps legal assistance attorney called a Southern California towing company with a warning.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2026
Footage on social media has emerged showing a Greek coast guard boat towing the several metre-long drone to the port.
From BBC ● May 8, 2026
Just as things start looking up, Amanda’s car is stolen, left in an illegal spot and towed, and the towing company slaps her with an exorbitant $21,000 bill for circumstances entirely out of her control.
From Salon ● Mar. 22, 2026
It blocked the entrance to the patio, and my mom called the towing company to have it removed.
From "The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora" by Pablo Cartaya
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
