[f. TOW v.1 + ROPE sb.1] A rope (hawser, cable, or the like) used in towing.
1743. Bulkeley & Cummins, Voy. S. Seas, 119. We called to them to take hold of a Towe-Rope, but they refused.
1801. T. Jefferson, Writ. (ed. Ford), VIII. 75. You will follow the bark of liberty only by the help of a tow-rope.
1865. Dickens, Mut. Fr., III. viii. The tow-rope was slackened by a turn of the stream.
Hence Tow-roping, in railway-shunting, the drawing of a vehicle by an engine on a parallel line of rails by means of a rope connecting the two.
An illegal practice. See PROPPING vbl. sb. 3 for quots.
