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A towline is the rope or cable used to pull one vehicle or boat behind another. It is the same thing as a — the two words mean the same, and you can use either. Towline sounds slightly more technical and is a little more common on the water; is what most people say about cars. The word carries a picture with it. Somebody at the front is doing the pulling; somebody at the back has no power of their own and is just following, connected by that one line. A broken-down car being dragged to the garage. A boat with a dead engine being brought back into harbour. A water-skier holding on behind a speedboat — that is a towline too. Even a (a plane with no engine) goes up on a towline behind a real plane, and then lets go. Because the picture is so clear, people also use it about life. To be 'on someone's towline' means you are not moving under your own power any more — someone else is pulling you along. That use is not common, but if you meet it, that is what it means. A practical note that tells you the word is real and not just a dictionary entry: a towline must never be a thin rope. It stores enormous force, and if it snaps it whips back hard enough to hurt someone. Sailors and drivers both take this seriously.
拖繩、拖纜（拖車或拖船用的那條繩索）
組成tow (to pull something behind you) + line (a rope — line is the ordinary word for rope on boats). So: the rope you tow with.
同家族的字
- towropesame tow — and the same meaning as towline; rope instead of line
- towbarsame tow — the metal bar version, on the back of a car
- towpathsame tow — the path where horses walked while pulling canal boats
- lifelinesame line = rope — the rope thrown to save someone
- clotheslinesame line = rope — the line you hang washing on
原始詞典資料1 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，原文照列，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。
towlinenoun
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A line (e.g., manila rope, wire rope, woven polymer strap) used for towing a vehicle (e.g., motor vehicle, marine vessel).
- Near-synonym: towrope
資料來源：英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary（CC BY-SA 4.0）。 原文照列，未經改寫。