towel
nounverbcommon in dialogue
- Canada//ˈtaʊ̯əl//
- Canada/[ˈtʰaʊ̯l̩]/
- //ˈtæʊ̯əl//
- /[ˈtæʊ̯l̩]/
A cloth used for wiping, especially one used for drying anything wet, such as a person after a bath.
noun
- 1
A cloth used for wiping, especially one used for drying anything wet, such as a person after a bath.
He needed a towel for wiping the slippery floor.
Etymology
From Middle English towayle, towel, towail, towaille, from Old French toaille (“towel”) (modern French touaille), Medieval Latin toallia, from Frankish *þwahilu (“cloth”), from Proto-Germanic *þwahaną (“to wash”). Cognate with Old High German dwahila (“towel”) (modern dialectal German Zwehle), Dutch dwaal (“towel”), dweil (“mop”), Low German Dweel (“towel”), Old English þwǣle (“band; ribbon; fillet”), Old English þwēan (“to wash”).
verb
- 1
To dry by using a towel.
He got out of the shower and toweled himself dry.
- 2
To hit with a towel.
- 3
To block up (a door, etc.) with a towel, to conceal the fumes of a recreational drug.
We would open the windows, towel the door, and turn my bedroom into an Allman Brothers concert.
- 4
obsoleteTo beat with a stick, or "oaken towel".
Forms
- plural
- towels
- past tense
- toweled, towelled
- past participle
- toweled, towelled
- present participle
- toweling, towelling
- third person singular
- towels
towel · A cloth used for wiping, especially one used for drying anything wet, such as a person after a bath.
tower · A tall, narrow structure (significantly taller than it is…Tower · The Tower of London, especially seen as a place of…Towers · A habitational surname.