towline

[ toh-lahyn ]

/ ˈtoʊˌlaɪn /

noun

a line, hawser, or the like, by which anything is or may be towed.

Nearby words

towheaded, towhee, towie, towing path, towkay, towline, towmond, town, town and gown, town car, town clerk

Origin of towline

1710–20; tow¹ + line¹; compare Old English tohlīne (see tow³)

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for towline

There Dan joined him with the towline, and the two pulled the launch up to the 81 nearest wharf.
Four Afloat|Ralph Henry Barbour
In the Hsintan rapid the towline parted, and his junk was smashed to pieces by the rocks, and all that he possessed destroyed.
An Australian in China|George Ernest Morrison
Ought they to cut the towline, get up a bit of a sail, and endeavor to make the north shore of the lake?
Geoffrey Hampstead|Thomas Stinson Jarvis
It was the duty of the man in the bow to regulate the towline according to circumstances.
Overland through Asia; Pictures of Siberian, Chinese, and Tartar Life|Thomas Wallace Knox

He forgot that he was attached by the left shoulder to the towline.
South from Hudson Bay|E. C. [Ethel Claire] Brill

British Dictionary definitions for towline

towline

/ (ˈtəʊˌlaɪn) /

noun

another name for towrope

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012