tow: English has two words tow. The older, ‘pull’ [OE], came from a prehistoric Germanic *togōjan (source also of Norwegian toga ‘pull’). This was derived from the base *tog-, variants of which gave English team, tug, etc, and it goes back ultimately to the same Indo-European base as produced Latin dūcere ‘pull, lead’ (source of English conduct, duke, etc). Tow ‘flax or hemp fibre’ [14] was borrowed from Middle Low German touw.
This probably went back to the prehistoric Germanic base *tōw-, *taw- ‘make, prepare’ (source also of English tool), in the specialized sense ‘make yarn from wool, spin’. => conduct, duct, duke, educate, team, teem, tie, tug; tool
tow (v.)
"pull with a rope," Old English togian "to drag, pull," from Proto-Germanic *tugojanan (cognates: Old English teon "to draw," Old Frisian togia "to pull about," Old Norse toga, Old High German zogon, German ziehen "to draw, pull, drag"), from PIE root *deuk- "to pull, draw" (cognates: Latin ducere "to lead;" see duke (n.)). Related: Towed; towing.
tow (n.1)
"the coarse, broken fibers of flax, hemp, etc., separated from the finer parts," late 14c., probably from Old English tow- "spinning" (in towlic "fit for spinning," tow-hus "spinning-room"), perhaps cognate with Gothic taujan "to do, make," Middle Dutch touwen "to knit, weave," from Proto-Germanic *taw- "to manufacture" (see taw (v.)).
tow (n.2)
c. 1600, "rope used in towing," from tow (v.). Meaning "act or fact of being towed" is from 1620s.
双语例句
1. There she was on my doorstep with child in tow.
她站在我门口，身后跟着一个孩子。
来自柯林斯例句
2. I can give you a tow if you want.
如果你愿意，我可以拖带你的车。
来自柯林斯例句
3. See how stupidly they kow-tow to persons higher in the hierarchy.
瞧他们对上级唯命是从的样子是多么愚蠢啊。
来自柯林斯例句
4. She had a reporter and a photographer in tow.
她有一个记者和一名摄影师追随着。
来自柯林斯例句
5. The broken - down car was taken in tow by a lorry.
