[f. TOW sb.1] trans. To comb or card flax; also, to reduce to the state of tow or fiber. Hence Towing vbl. sb., spec.: see quot. 1891; † towing-mill, a carding-machine: see quot. 1789.
1615. Markham, Eng. Housew., II. v. (1668), 134. That which comes from the flaxe being a little towed again in a pair of Wooll Cards, will make a course harding.
1789. Trans. Soc. Arts, VII. 195. Mills … in Yorkshire … called Towing-Mills … worked by men turning them backward and forward, till the wool is sufficiently opened for use.
1891. Cent. Dict., Towing, in curled-hair manuf., the operation of picking to pieces the ropes of hair after they have been steeped in water and then subjected to slow heat [to give a permanent curl to the hair].
