different between towelling vs towel

English

Alternative forms

• toweling

Noun

towelling (usually uncountable, plural towellings)

1. (countable, uncountable) Any fabric suitable for towels, such as huckaback or terry cloth.
   • 1852, J. D. B. De Bow, The Industrial Resources of the Southern and Western States

     My rule is to give for winter a linsey suit, one shirt of best towelling, one hat, one pair of shoes, a good blanket, costing $2 to $2 50, every other year […]

2. (countable) A thrashing.

Translations

Verb

towelling

1. present participle of towel

English

Etymology

From Middle English towayle, towel, towail, towaille, from Old French toaille (“towel”) (modern French touaille), from Frankish *þwahilu (“cloth”), from Proto-Germanic *þwahan? (“to wash”). Cognate with Old High German dwahila (“towel”) (modern dialectal German Zwehle), Dutch dwaal (“towel”), dweil (“mop”), Low German Dweel (“towel”), Old English þw?le (“band; ribbon; fillet”), Old English þw?an (“to wash”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: toul, tou??l
• IPA^(key): /ta?l/, /?ta?.?l/
• Rhymes: -a?l, -a??l

Noun

towel (plural towels)

1. A cloth used for wiping, especially one used for drying anything wet, as a person after a bath.

Hyponyms

• lavabo
• see also Derived terms below

Derived terms

Descendants

• ? Japanese: ??? (taoru)

Translations

Verb

towel (third-person singular simple present towels, present participle toweling or towelling, simple past and past participle toweled or towelled)

1. (transitive) To hit with a towel.
2. (transitive) To dry by using a towel.

   He got out of the shower and toweled himself dry.

3. (transitive) To block up (a door, etc.) with a towel, to conceal the fumes of a recreational drug.
4. (Britain, dialect, obsolete, transitive) To beat with a stick, or "oaken towel".

Derived terms

• towel off
• towel up
• untoweled, untowelled

Anagrams

• Towle, owlet

Middle English

Noun

towel

1. Alternative form of towayle