towline

[toh-lahyn]

noun

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

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. 2018

Examples from the Web for towline

Historical Examples of towline

I'm captain at this end of the towline, and I swear he shall go in.
The Continental Monthly, Vol 3 No 3, March 1863
Various
At the end of the towline we nosed along in perfect complacency.
Sometub's Cruise on the C. & O. Canal
John Pryor Cowan
He forgot that he was attached by the left shoulder to the towline.
South from Hudson Bay
E. C. [Ethel Claire] Brill
Far from guessing that the towline had snapped, she was not aware that there was one.
Overland
John William De Forest
At the same moment, he cut the towline and ordered the men on the cutter to return and capture the guard near the Southfield.
The Greater Republic
Charles Morris

British Dictionary definitions for towline

towline

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