Definition of "tugboat" [tug•boat]

• A small powerful boat designed for towing or pushing larger vessels. Also called towboat. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The tugboat is Italian-flagged, but its ownership was unclear."
• "The only other way to gelift boats to the continent would be by pushing them with a tugboat, which is a slow and possibly dangerous process."
• "PHILADELPHIA (AP) - A preliminary federal report says an idled tour boat and nearby vessels repeatedly called the tugboat guiding the barge that hit and sank the craft, killing two"