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:
Rising fuel prices 'cost tow truck business £10k'
From BBC ● Sep. 26, 2026
Global regulation would force them all to tow the line - and also remove some of the weight of responsibility from the industry itself.
From BBC ● Sep. 24, 2026
At least three people, including Robinson’s mom and Banks’ wife, have bodyguards in tow, some of them hulking and one with a tattooed head that bears the letters SOG, to signify “Son of God.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2026
“There must have been a hole somewhere,” reckoned Joe McManus, the tow operator, of the tarp breach.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026
“What we need is your dad’s tow truck,” remarked Ryan.
From "Ralph S. Mouse" by Beverly Cleary
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 United States has already eyed retiring vehicles such as Humvees and MRAPs and weapons such as the TOW.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 22, 2022
TOW antitank missiles, considered the most sophisticated weapons to date provided by Washington or its allies to an opposition faction.
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
The vehicle has been described as a semi-truck, consisting of a cab which tows a trailer.
From BBC ● Mar. 1, 2024
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
In one centerfold, someone named Jack La Lanne tows a rowboat with a rope held between his teeth.
From "Dreaming in Cuban" by Cristina García
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
The success of the L119 and the much larger BAE Systems’ M777 in Ukraine proved the continued utility of towed artillery systems in warfare.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026
A passenger filmed Aipa being towed while Soleau merged onto southbound PCH at around 50 mph, prosecutors said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 18, 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
Unibodies typically perform better on fuel economy and road handling, whereas body-on-frame models are typically used for off-roading and towing.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026
The boat was removed from the Santa Rosa Island beach by a towing company and transported to Ventura Harbor, the service said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 27, 2026
But over the weekend, she saw campervans, a large coach and cars with trailers - one towing a boat - all drive down it, some at speeds as fast as 40mph.
From BBC ● Sep. 22, 2026
That point was driven home at the group’s annual conference in San Mateo, Calif., in May, when a plane appeared overhead towing a banner that read “SaaS is dead.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
Lonna arrived at the church towing a somber, bony- shouldered boy with sun-bleached hair and a deep tan.
From "Hoot" by Carl Hiaasen
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.
