[f. TOW v.1 + -ING1.] The action of TOW v.1; esp. the dragging of a boat or ship by a tow-line; also, the drawing of a fine net behind a boat or other vessel for the capture of marine zoological specimens, and in pl. the proceeds of this, the specimens captured.
1494. [see TOW v.1 1].
1611. [see TOWAGE 2].
1617. Moryson, Itin., II. 168. Sir Richard Levison,… with towing, got out the Warspite, the Defiance, the Swiftsure, the Marline.
1725. De Foe, Voy. round World (1840), 325. By the help of towing and setting as well as they could, they came io a flatter shore.
1857. C. Gribble, in Merc. Marine Mag. (1858), V. 7. They monopolize the towing in and out.
1887. Smithsonian Rep., II. 135. The surface towings he obtained are very rich in interesting forms.
b. attrib., as towing-banquette, barge, -bitts, bollard, -boom, -gear, -vessel; towing-bridle (BRIDLE sb. 5 a), a stout chain, cable, or iron rail secured at the ends, with a towing-hook to which the tow-line is attached; towing-lights sb. pl., white lights carried one above another by a vessel which has another or others in tow (Funk’s Stand. Dict., 1895); towing-net = TOW-NET; towing-path = TOW-PATH; towing-post: see quot.; towing-rope = TOW-ROPE; towing-timber = towing-post.
1791. Rep. Navig. Thames & Isis, Estimate, 4. A Loop of the River cut through, a *Towing-Banquete formed, and Water deepened, £90.
1889. Welch, Text Bk. Naval Archit., xii. 132. Advantage is taken of the hollow *towing bollards … and the mast … to utilise these also as uptakes.
1897. G. Grenfell, in Sir H. Johnston, Life (1908), I. xii. 258. [It] had been firmly secured to the after bollards, as well as to the *towing-boom forward.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., *Towing-bridle, a stout chain, with a hook at each end, for attaching a tow-rope to; also, a large towing-hook in the bight of the chain.
1857. Dufferin, Lett. High Lat., viii. (ed. 3), 205. I began to be afraid that something must have gone wrong with the *towing-gear.
1816. Tuckey, Narr. Exped. R. Zaire, i. (1818), 11. The *towing-net was now … tolerably successful, taking up from time to time various species of mollusca.
1726. Lond. Gaz., No. 6447/7. Using for *Towing or Haleing-Paths.
1795. J. Phillips, Hist. Inland Navig., Add. 100. The towing path of this canal may be used by occupiers of lands as a bridle-way.
1867. Trollope, Chron. Barset, I. xii. 102. A cottage which stood alone, close to the towing-path of the canal.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., *Towing-post, a substantial timber fixed through the deck of a steam-tug for making the tow-rope fast to. Also, a similar post in canal barges to keep the tow-line up clear of the path.
1838. Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl., I. 322/1. Whether it was feasible without a *towing-rope to get the barge through the water-way.
1882. E. O’Donovan, Merv Oasis, I. 315. A towing rope was fastened to the top of the mast.
1834. Oxf. Univ. Mag., I. 308. The recent introduction of steam *towing-vessels.
Towing, vbl. sb.2, 3: see TOW v.3, 4.
