tow truck
48
2.7
- noun
- /toʊ trʌk/
- US
:
grúa
- After my car broke down on the highway, I had to call a tow truck to get it towed to the garage.
So then I call a tow truck, but I have to come here to record.
- So then I call a tow truck, but I have to come here to record.
- She Hey, you can always trust a tow truck guy named John.
- But so, yeah, so we were able to get a tow truck back home and we had it there.
- Jesus the tow truck I don't know that's I have no idea what that would cost.
- Doug Movoir is on a tow truck.
- Had the the ladies we're hanging out with take us to the tow truck place.
Examples
-
We were on the side of the road for a bunch of hours waiting for a tow truck and there we are.
-
Listen, I need a tow truck in the parking lot.
-
So then I call a tow truck, but I have to come here to record.
-
But so, yeah, so we were able to get a tow truck back home and we had it there.
-
I have to wait for the tow truck.
-
"Margaret said you called the tow truck people a good hour ago."
Fiction book (2001) -
The sheriff's tow truck brought the thing back to my house, and that was that.
Fiction book (1995) -
I'll be back with a tow truck before nightfall.
-
We stood in the street, whipped by the wind, until a tow truck came to pick us up.
Academic text (2007) -
John Q. bursts onto the porch to find a tow truck parked in front of his house.
Fiction book (2002)
Synonyms
4
5.9
A truck with a crane that tows broken or parked cars
1
3.3
A vehicle that pulls away broken or illegally parked cars
How Powerful
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a truck fitted for lifting and pulling vehicles' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'tow' (to pull or haul a vehicle) with 'truck' (a large vehicle), yielding a vehicle whose function is to tow. This noun-noun compounding is a common, compositional pattern in English (and mirrored in many languages), so a B1 learner who knows both words can infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
Tow truck is a simple, literal name: a truck that tows, or 'pulls', another vehicle. That's why it means a truck used to 'pull' away and remove broken or illegally parked cars.