Also 7 tawe. [f. TOW v.1]
1. A rope used for towing, a tow-line.
1600. Hakluyt, Voy., III. 585. [The Phenix] kept her company vntil the next morning, then taking in a small cable from her for a towe: but by 9 … she spent her maine mast and split her foreyard, breaking also her tow.
1625. J. Glanvill, Voy. Cadiz, 61. Wee could not thus have fastned a towe unto her.
1669. Sturmy, Mariner’s Mag., I. ii. 16. Those that be on Shore may have a Towe, and be blest with a Ruther; for we will stay for no man.
2. The action of towing or fact of being towed; chiefly in in tow, in the condition of being towed (of or by the towing vessel); esp. to take in tow (said of a ship, etc.): to begin and continue to tow, to tow.
1622. R. Hawkins, Voy. S. Sea (1847), 226. The Daintie sayled badly,… and with the advantage which all the South-sea shippes have of all those built in our North-sea, the admirall gave her a tawe.
1704. J. Harris, Lex. Techn., I. s.v., Whatever is drawn after a Ship, or Boat with a Rope, &c. is said to be Towed after a ship, or to be in her Tow.
1720. De Foe, Capt. Singleton, i. (1840), 4. As they were sailing away with our ship in tow as a prize.
1743. Lett., in Derby Mercury, 15 Sept., 2/3. We met with an English Snow plying with an Easterly Wind in the Latitude of 48: 0: from Carolina, bound to Cowes, laden with Rice; which Capt. Barnett took in Tow.
1793. Smeaton, Edystone L., § 109. One of these blocks … is by a strong chain attached to the carriage,… which is then drawn forward with the block in tow.
1865. Livingstone, Zambesi, xvi. 324. We took the hippopotamus in tow.
1900. F. T. Bullen, With Christ at Sea, viii. 151. Before we could realise that the long upward tow was nearly at an end, Portland, with its rows of double-tiered wharves, its fine buildings and clusters of shipping, burst into view.
1902. Westm. Gaz., 11 April, 5/2. The worst weather experienced during the tow was a fresh gale and lumpy sea.
b. fig., esp. to take in tow, to take under one’s guidance or patronage; to take charge of.
1789. Dibdin, Poor Jack, ii. Providence takes us in tow.
1790. Wolcott (P. Pindar), Advice to Future Laureat, II. xxiii. Too proud for bards to take in tow my name.
1804. Fessenden, Democr. (1806), II. 30. Till he will condescend, I trow Our commonwealth to take in tow.
1883. Gilmour, Mongols (1884), 226. A young lama … took me in tow, and conducted me to all the tents.
1896. Mrs. Caffyn, Quaker Grandmother, 28. She set off … to explore the world, with a one-eyed old aunt in tow, and a prize bull-dog.
3. A vessel taken in tow; also, a string of boats, barges, etc., being towed.
1805. in Nicolas, Disp. Nelson (1846), VII. 189, note. Trinidada in tow. Employed knitting fore and mizen rigging, and securing the masts and tow.
1883. Fisheries Exhib. Catal. (ed. 4), 175. Methods of Crossing a Channel with Tows of Seals.
1883. Law Times, 24 Nov., 62/1. The R. R., by reason of the inefficiency of the V. S. to command the seven tows, stranded and became a total wreck.
1885. Law Times Rep., LIII. 53/2. The schooner … having come into collision with a tug and her tow.
1897. Outing (U.S.), XXX. 120/1. The tow consisted of thirty-four boats towing four abreast, a floating village with its houses and families and small children.
1906. Roy. Comm. Canals, Min. Evid., 59. I have seen a tow of as many as 23 boats in the Blisworth tunnel on the Grand Junction.
b. A vessel that tows; a tug.
1874. Bedford, Sailor’s Pocket Bk., vi. 172. The heaviest boats should be nearest the tow. Weighted boats tow best.
4. attrib. and Comb. (or perh. from TOW v.1), as tow-barge, -horse, -man, -vessel; tow-boat, a boat used in towing; spec. a small vessel built for towing others, a tug; tow-car, on street-railways in U.S., a car that is towed by another, a trailer (Funk’s Stand. Dict., 1895); tow-iron, in Whaling, the toggle-iron or harpoon to which the tow-line is attached (Cent. Dict., 1891); tow-post, a towing-post; tow-rail: see quot. See also TOW-LINE, -NET, -PATH, -ROPE.
1681. W. Robertson, Phraseol. Gen. (1693), 1085. A *tow-barge.
1815. Massachusetts Statute, 7 Feb. His patent steam *tow-boats … said patent bearing date the 2 day of April 1814.
1860. Merc. Marine Mag., VII. 99. Two powerful tow boats … are stationed at the bar.
1864. Carlyle, Fredk. Gt., XVII. vii. IV. 590. New boatmen, forty new *towmen.
1908. Daily News, 29 July, 4. He braced his back against the *tow-post as he flicked the cleanings overboard.
1894. Pall Mall Mag., Nov., 380. A stout arched timber, reaching from bulwark to bulwark [of a tug], termed a *tow-rail.
1698. T. Savery, Navig. Impr., 10. The *Tow Vessel in [16]82 drew but four and a half Water the Outside.
