Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
🤏 To pull hard 🤏 A strong pull 🚢 A small towboat 💪 To strive hard 🚢 To tow a boat
to tug

to tug

1 3.9
To pull a ship to or from a dock using a small boat
  • verb
  • /tʌɡ/
: remolcar
  • The tugboat will tug the vessel into the dock safely.
  • tug the boat

This meant being tugged by a cruiser or destroyer until the plane was within range of Germany itself, since they didn't have the range to fly the whole way from Britain.

Examples

  • I'm sure it gave him great peace inside hearing the music and being tugged by his cousin.

    Blog text (34)

  • The pirate boat goes up and the, you know, boat that we're tugging along goes up as well.

  • OK, If you took it off the tracks and let it sit there in the mud and have them try to tug the train, that ain't happening.

  • She waved at Randy as she was tugged toward the family room.

    Fiction book (1999)

  • The Franciscan monk approached the convent entrance, cautiously tugged at the rope that rang the steps of the gatekeeper.

    Fiction book (1996)

  • They managed to tug the stranded boat free from the rocks.

  • The crew used the powerful tugboat to tug the large ships through the harbor.

Synonyms

to pull along
vsto tug
10 3.0

To move something by dragging it with effort

uses a powered boat to tow a specific vessel in water
to bowse
vsto tug
  • Archaic
1 9.9

Pull heavy things on a ship using ropes and pulleys

uses a powered boat to pull a vessel through water

Idioms

to tug at someone's heartstrings
  • Informal
2 5.3

To make someone feel very sad or touched

to tug (on) a forelock
  • Archaic
9.9

To show respect by lowering your head and gently pulling the hair at your forehead

Compounds

tug of war
22 2.0

A game where two teams pull a rope to drag the other team across a line

tug-of-war
  • Informal
13 3.2

A hard struggle between two groups for power or control

tug-of-war
6 3.0

A contest where two teams pull a rope to drag the other team across a line

Surface Forms

tug infinitive
tugged past
tugged past participle
tugging present participle
tugs third person singular

Etymology

Tug meaning 'to tow a vessel' comes from the same idea: boats that 'tug' are named for their job of pulling other ships, so to tug a ship is to tow it by pulling.