towel

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   wipe with a towel

   towel your hair dry

2. 2
   noun

   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.

3. 3
   verb

   To dry by using a towel.

   He got out of the shower and toweled himself dry.

4. 4
   verb

   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.

5. 5
   noun

   a rectangular piece of absorbent cloth (or paper) for drying or wiping

6. 6
   verb

   To hit with a towel.

7. 7
   verb

   To beat with a stick, or "oaken towel".

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”).