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Wiktionary
terrycloth

n. An absorbent cotton fabric typically used for towels and bathrobes; toweling.

WordNet
terrycloth

n. a pile fabric (usually cotton) with uncut loops on both sides; used to make bath towels and bath robes [syn: terry, terry cloth]

Wikipedia
Terrycloth

Terrycloth, terry cloth, terry towelling, terry, or simply towelling is a fabric with loops that can absorb large amounts of water. It can be manufactured by weaving or knitting. Towelling is woven on special looms that have two beams of longitudinal warp through which the filler or weft is fired laterally. The first industrial production of terrycloth towels was by the English manufacturer Christy.

There are two types of terry fabrics:

  1. Towell Terry is a [woven] fabric with long loops that can absorb large amounts of water. Its content is usually 100% cotton, but may sometimes contain polyester.
  2. French Terry is a fabric, used in men's, women's and children's clothes. One of its sides is flat, while the other side is with cross loops. It is either 100% cotton or contains polyester with elastaine (lycra). It is often warp knitted, and the term French Terry is colloquially used for all warp knitted Terry.

It is the length of loops that determines how much fluid is absorbed by the cloth as longer loops provide more surface area to absorb and come in contact with the fluid.

Items that may be made from terrycloth include babies’ nappies (UK English) or reusable diapers (US English), towels, bathrobes, bedlinen, and sweatbands for the wrist or head. Terrycloth is also sometimes used to make sweat jackets. Terry towelling hats with a shallow brim were once popular with cricketers (like English wicketkeeper Jack Russell), but are no longer in fashion.

An alternative fabric used for towels is waffle fabric. A modern synthetic alternative is microfiber.

Usage examples of "terrycloth".

Nicky was wearing a diaper, bright red terrycloth shorts and nothing else.

It was the same color blue as her slippers, and they were terrycloth, too.

Reluctantly, he slipped on a terrycloth robe, walked yawning to the door, and opened it.

Zanita came out of the tub dressed in one of the terrycloth robes the inn provided, she spotted Tyber sitting in the large chair in front of the fireplace, sipping a hot mulled cider.

She tugged the robe tight around her, tying the sash and feeling safer somehow, as if the soft terrycloth was a suit of armor.

She appropriated a terrycloth bathrobe hanging on The back of the bathroom door and went back to sit on the edge of the bed, where she stared through the sheer curtains covering the window.

She could have been a Roman goddess, enshrouded in her white terrycloth robe, the drawstring cinched tight, accentuating her slender curves.

I reach out blindly and find terrycloth, a bath towel that falls away.

At one of the tables set back from the pool sat Richard's father, wrapped in a bulging, fuzzy terrycloth robe, flip-flops on his white feet, simultaneously eating a club sandwich and wheeling and dealing on the plug-in telephone in his other hand.

Most of the material is synthetic--I use terrycloth a lot and I've made things out of ordinary blanketing, outing flannel.

He pages through the evening paper, rises, fixes a drink, takes a thoughtful sip, sets the drink down, goes into his bedroom, and reemerges wearing a terrycloth robe.