/ˈtaʊ(ə)l/, [tʰæɫ], [tʰæɒ̯ɫ]
OriginFrom 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”).
- 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.”
- transitiveTo hit with a towel.
- transitiveTo dry by using a towel.
“He got out of the shower and toweled himself dry.”
- transitiveTo 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.”
- UK, dialectal, obsolete, transitiveTo beat with a stick, or "oaken towel".
Formstowels(plural) · towels(present, singular, third-person) · toweling(US, participle, present) · towelling(UK, participle, present) · toweled(US, participle, past) · toweled(US, past) · towelled(UK, participle, past) · towelled(UK, past)