• n. 拖船；拖曳；苦干
• vi. 用力拉；竞争；努力做
• vt. 用力拉；较量；用拖船拖

来自古英语 teohan,拉，拖，来自 Proto-Germanic*teuhan,拉，拖，来自 PIE*deuk,拉，词源同 duct,tow.

tug

tug: [13] Tug goes back to a prehistoric Germanic base *teukh- ‘pull’ (source also of German ziehen ‘pull’ and English truck [14], whose original meaning was ‘pull up, gather up’). This in turn was descended from Indo-European *deuk- ‘pull’, from which English gets conduct, duke, reduce, etc.
=> conduct, duct, duke, educate, reduce, tie, tow

tug (v.)

c. 1200, from weak grade of Old English teohan "to pull, drag," from Proto-Germanic *teuhan "to pull" (cognates: Old High German zucchen "to pull, jerk," German zücken "to draw quickly), from PIE root *deuk- "to lead" (see duke (n.)). Related to tow (v.). Related: Tugged; tugging.

tug (n.)

mid-14c., in reference to some part of a harness;" c. 1500 as "act of pulling or dragging," from tug (v.). Meaning "small, powerful vessel for towing other vessels" is recorded from 1817. Phrase tug of war (1670s) was originally figurative, "the decisive contest, the real struggle," from the noun in the sense "supreme effort, strenuous contest of forces" (1650s). As an actual athletic event, from 1876.

1. She knows exactly how to tug at readers' heartstrings.

她对如何牵动读者的心弦了如指掌。

来自柯林斯例句

2. The tug crossed our stern not fifty yards away.

拖船擦着我们的船尾开了过去，距离不到50码。

来自柯林斯例句

3. Bobby gave her hair a tug.

博比使劲拽了她头发一下.

来自柯林斯例句

4. The sailors won at tug-of-war.

船员们赢了拔河比赛。

来自柯林斯例句

5. The tug is towing three barges.

那只拖船正拖着三只驳船.

来自《简明英汉词典》