In the composites industry, a tow is an untwisted bundle of continuous filaments, and it refers to man-made fibres, particularly carbon fibres (also called graphite).

Tows are designated by the number of fibers they contain, e.g., a 12K tow contains about 12,000 fibres.

In the textile industry, a tow (rhymes with cow, unless referring to cellulose acetate which sounds like toe) is a coarse, broken fibre such as flax, hemp, or jute. Flax tows are often used as upholstery stuffing, and tows in general are frequently cut up to produce staple fibre.

Verb

tow (third-person singular simple present tows, present participle towing, simple past and past participle towed)

1. (transitive) To pull something behind one using a line or chain; to haul.

• German: schleppen de(de), abschleppen de(de)
• Greek: (for vehicles) ρυμουλκώ el(el) (rymoulko)
• Portuguese: rebocar pt(pt)
• Russian: буксировать ru(ru) (buksírovat') (usually of a vehicle)}, тянуть ru(ru) (tjanút'), тащить ru(ru) (taščít')

• Scottish Gaelic: slaod gd(gd)
• Spanish: remolcar es(es)