- an act of one vehicle pulling another vehicle using a rope or chain
- The car broke down and we had to get somebody to give us a tow.
- a tow truck
- under tow The ship, whose engine had failed, is now safely under tow.
Homophones toe | towtoe tow/təʊ//təʊ/- toe noun
- He stepped on my toe while we were dancing!
- tow verb
- Luckily, a truck came to tow our car to safety.
- tow noun
- Can you give us a tow to a garage?
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryverb + tow- give somebody
- bar
- line
- rope
- …
- in tow
- under tow
Word OriginOld English togian ‘draw, drag’, of Germanic origin; related to tug. The noun dates from the early 17th cent.Want to learn more?
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Idioms
See tow in the Oxford Advanced American Dictionaryin tow
- (informal) if you have somebody in tow, they are with you and following closely behind
- She turned up with her mother in tow.
- a harassed mother with three small children in tow
- if a ship is taken in tow, it is pulled by another ship
Check pronunciation:
tow