Crossword clues for towpath
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Towpath \Tow"path`\, n. A path traveled by men or animals in towing boats; -- called also towing path.
Wiktionary
n. a path alongside a canal or river, originally for horses towing barges, now more often used as a footpath
WordNet
n. a path along a canal or river used by animals towing boats [syn: towing path]
Wikipedia
A towpath is a road or trail on the bank of a river, canal, or other inland waterway. The purpose of a towpath is to allow a land vehicle, beasts of burden, or a team of human pullers to tow a boat, often a barge. This mode of transport was common where sailing was impractical due to tunnels and bridges, unfavourable winds, or the narrowness of the channel.
After the Industrial Revolution, towing became obsolete when engines were fitted on boats and when railway transportation superseded the slow towing method. Since then, many of these towpaths have been converted to multi-use trails. They are still named towpaths — although they are now only occasionally used for the purpose of towing boats.
Usage examples of "towpath".
The lock was gone and the lockhouse too, and the towpath all grown over.
One would think on a world of lesser gravity that the denizens would be beanpoles -- the vertical antithesis of the Lusian barrel shape -- but most of the men, women, and children I saw in the busy lanes and towpaths along the river were almost as short and stocky as Lusians.
Marched back down the boyaux to the glassworks at La Neuvillette, and then continued on down the dark towpath of the canal to Courcelles, on the outskirts of Reims, where we were comfortably cantonnés for the night.
He had headed down to the C & O Canal towpath in Georgetown, always his favorite spot, to clear his head of the political doublespeak and figure out a plan of attack.
I had to fight to hold him in, because the way was icy, and I was afraid of a fall, but I confess that-with Galapas' last remark echoing uncomfortably in my head-I let him go downhill through the trees a good deal too fast for safety, until we reached the mill and the level of the towpath.
Vimes ploughed through it, twigs whipping at his bare legs, and then he was out and on to the old towpath, mud splashing up over the blood.
A team of helladotheria in glowing trappings of rainbow fabric pulled the boat up a long rollered way while chaliko-riders dressed in gauzy robes and glass armor, bearing lights, animal-headed horns and banners, followed along the steep towpath.