Picture a rope stretched tight between two vehicles: the front one has the engine, the back one has none, and whatever the front one does the back one must follow. That helpless following is why the word also works for the three children trailing behind a parent through the supermarket.

可以想成:兩台車之間拉著一條繃緊的繩子——前面那台有動力,後面那台沒有,前面往哪走,後面就只能跟到哪。正是這種「只能跟著走」的感覺,讓這個字也拿來形容一路跟在大人後面穿過超市的三個小孩。

Three branches

用繩子在後面拖

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tow (pull a vehicle) · verb · A2

To pull a car, boat, or other vehicle along behind another one, using a rope or chain.

拖;拖吊

在被拖的狀態中

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on tow / under tow (being towed) · noun · B1

Being pulled along by another vehicle (a ship under tow, or a car on tow). British English.

被拖著;在拖帶中

後面跟著一串

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in tow · noun · B1

Following closely behind someone or something (in the phrase in tow).

緊跟著;帶著

原始詞典資料12 筆記錄

以下是外部詞典記錄的用法,摘錄並精簡格式,我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的;有些用法可能上面已經講過了。

Towname

  • 1

    A surname.

towverb詞源 1/təʊ/

  • 1

    To pull something behind one, such as by using a line, chain, or tongue.

    • Near-synonyms: draw, haul, pull, trail
    • In its current specification it cannot be driven and must be towed to its work location by a locomotive.
  • 2

    cyclinghobbieslifestyleTo aid someone behind by shielding them from wind resistance.

townoun詞源 1/təʊ/

  • 1

    The act of towing and the condition of being towed.

    • It isn't the car's battery; I think I need a tow.
  • 2

    Something, such as a tugboat, that tows.

  • 3

    Something, such as a barge, that is towed.

  • 4

    A rope or cable used in towing.

  • 5

    hobbieslifestylemotor-racingA speed increase given by driving in front of another car on a straight, which causes a slipstream for the car behind.

    • On Saturday, Vettel was very unhappy with Leclerc's failure to work out a way through the traffic and give him a tow for the second runs in qualifying, as had been agreed.

townoun詞源 2/təʊ/

  • 1

    An untwisted bundle of fibres such as cellulose acetate, flax, hemp or jute.

    • And the strong shall be as towe, and the maker of it as a sparke, and they shall both burne together, and none shall quench them.
    • Meanwhile the farmer's wife was at home all alone, and while she was sitting and spinning her tow, she never noticed a Troll who had crept through the window into the next room, and was at the beer barrel drawing off the liquor into his copper kettle.
  • 2

    The short, coarse, less desirable fibres separated by hackling from the finer longer fibres (line).

這個拼法也被記錄為下列字的變化形:

  • tube-launched
  • optically tracked
  • wire-guided
  • The One with

摘錄自 英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary,已精簡格式;依 CC BY-SA 4.0 授權使用,改動後的內容同樣以此授權提供。