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towel
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
towel
I.noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a bath towel
▪ She handed him a soft white bath towel.
a beach towel
▪ They spread out beach towels and opened parasols.
a clean shirt/sheet/towel etc
▪ Where are all my clean socks?
bath towel
dish towel
hand towel
paper towel
tea towel
towel rail
towel sth dry (=use a towel to dry something)
▪ Towel your hair dry before using a hairdryer.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
clean
▪ They made me very welcome, then gave me a clean towel and showed me the showers.
▪ She sits down and blots her sweaty face with a clean towel.
▪ My baby brother was on top of the refrigerator on a bed of clean nappies and towels in his plastic baby bath-tub.
▪ There were fresh soaps and clean towels.
▪ She would give the girl a clean towel and the key to a room and then take your money.
▪ As well as often mis-clubbing him I might forget to put in a clean towel in the bag or something like that.
▪ They were then issued with clean shirts and towels.
damp
▪ He flung the damp tea towel on to the table.
▪ Return to a clean bowl and cover with damp towel or plastic wrap, or put the bowl inside a plastic bag.
▪ A damp towel on the brow.
▪ It sits there shivering in its damp towel until she comes with urine bottle and tube.
▪ Anaesthetised it was laid on a damp towel for treatment.
▪ Put in the dough and cover with a damp towel or plastic wrap or place the bowl inside a plastic bag.
▪ Put them together at the last possible moment and cover with a damp tea towel until you serve them.
▪ Cover with either a damp towel or plastic wrap, or put the bowl into a plastic bag.
dry
▪ Rinse the courgettes under cold water, then dry with paper towels.
▪ Preheat oven to 400 F.. Remove pheasant from marinade and pat dry with paper towels.
▪ Doug has taken off his glasses and has his head in a dry towel.
▪ Remove squab from marinade, reserving marinade, and pat dry with paper towels.
▪ Empty warm water from mixing bowl and wipe dry with kitchen towel.
▪ Start with fresh, ripe fruit, then rinse carefully in cold water and drain well or pat dry with paper towel.
▪ Preheat oven to 250 F.. Pat meat dry with paper towels.
▪ Remove duck and pat dry with paper towels.
fluffy
▪ After a few minutes she padded back into the bedroom wrapped in a big fluffy towel.
▪ The little clinic was spotless, painted white, with sparkling chrome fittings, stainless steel instruments and pure white fluffy towels.
▪ But I had neither stumped up for a bale of fluffy bathroom towels, nor chipped in to the Qantas ticket.
fresh
▪ There were fresh towels in the bathroom, so the likeliest explanation was a nosy chambermaid.
▪ Their bathroom was stocked with stacks of fresh towels and washcloths.
▪ Thérèse found Léonie a fresh towel.
▪ Only rarely did Polly experience such exotic delights as clean sheets, let alone fresh soap and towels.
hot
▪ It got quite bad after a while and I had to hold hot towels underneath him to get the blood moving.
▪ Alternatively, she could lie on her stomach with a hot wet towel or a hot-water bottle placed on her buttocks.
▪ Wrap your hair in a hot towel to maximise the effect.
sanitary
▪ If you needed a new sanitary towel in the night you couldn't get one.
▪ So what about sanitary towels and tampons: bleached products that also come into intimate contact with the human body?
▪ In one room there was a plastic sack full of used sanitary towels.
▪ Did you realise that even now there are no legal standards for the manufacture of either sanitary towels or tampons?
▪ Did you also know that in Britain neither sanitary towels nor tampons are sterilised, despite what their individual wrapping might suggest?
▪ In those days there were no lavatory paper and sanitary towels, so old rags were used.
▪ Also avoid the use of vaginal deodorants, tampons and bleached sanitary towels.
▪ In some people it can be heavy enough to need thin sanitary towels.
wet
▪ Some one rushed out with wet towels to wrap around him.
▪ Her thin denim jacket was sodden and clung to her like a wet tea towel.
▪ Failing that, a wet towel can smother an accidental fire.
▪ As Kate steps off the plane the heat passes in fierce waves across her face, gagging her like another wet towel.
■ NOUN
bath
▪ Swallowing convulsively, she rubbed vigorously at her face and hair with a large bath towel until her skin burned.
▪ She looked round, unseeing, at all the discarded clothes and bath towels looped on the bed and floor.
▪ That evening my grandmother bundled me, weeping, in a large warm bath towel and tried to explain.
▪ When he hat finished he reached to the bed and taking the new bath towel put it around her shoulders.
▪ And now for a cup of tea, she thought, stepping out to wind a large bath towel around her nakedness.
▪ She was propped in bed, soaking bath towels between her legs, when Andrew came back.
▪ She was lying flat out on her pink bath towel along the lower level of the dry-heat sauna.
beach
▪ Room service and beach towels are provided without additional charge.
▪ He stands, grabs the beach towel.
▪ The two girls swam until they were tired, then lazed on beach towels on the grass under the palm trees.
▪ My friends were wearing two and three sweaters and had beach towels draped around their shoulders for extra warmth.
▪ Bring your own face and beach towels.
▪ Green in the chrome of the Harley, in the beach towel hung on a peg.
dish
▪ Richard hands me a dish towel and is off.
▪ He had folded the thin dish towel over his forearm and stood now with clasped hands.
▪ Marie Fermoyle turned the sputtering steak, then wiped her eyes with the dish towel.
hand
▪ Mike, whose own hair is visibly thinning despite careful combing, took the sight of Harvey in a hand towel badly.
▪ When was the last time anybody saw hand towels or soap or a bog roll?
▪ Picking up a hand towel from a nearby chair, she wrapped both of Lizzy's wrists tightly.
kitchen
▪ As she was drying her hair on the kitchen towel, Nora appeared through the dining-room door.
▪ Empty warm water from mixing bowl and wipe dry with kitchen towel.
paper
▪ There I dampened some paper towels and wiped the flour off the goodies I'd removed from Flaxperson.
▪ Preheat oven to 400 F.. Remove pheasant from marinade and pat dry with paper towels.
▪ I fetch a handful of paper towels from beside the wash basin, walking on tiptoe to avoid bloody footprints.
▪ Remove squab from marinade, reserving marinade, and pat dry with paper towels.
▪ In the cloak-room Mrs Frizzell stood in a whirl of used paper towels, like a panting snowshoe hare in a snowdrift.
▪ Dozens of rolls of paper towels.
▪ After rinsing her face and hands under the cold running water, she dried them on a couple of paper towels.
rail
▪ If you have a small bathroom, why not consider a radiator with a built-in towel rail?
▪ The alternative to this is a separate, electrically heated towel rail.
▪ Roll top baths, mixers, heated towel rails, soaps and towels.
▪ Kicking off his muddy wellingtons, he walked across to the towel rail on the far side of the old-fashioned kitchen.
▪ The few electrical fittings which are allowed in bathrooms, such as heated towel rails, will already have their own earth connections.
tea
▪ He flung the damp tea towel on to the table.
▪ With his other hand, he took the white tea towel from the rack and spread it on the drain board.
▪ She was drying a plate on a tea towel.
▪ Don't dry tea towels above cookers, or trail appliance flexes across hotplates.
▪ Wash dish cloths and tea towels frequently.
▪ Inside, the usual bored girl presided over a collection of postcards and tea towels.
▪ Her thin denim jacket was sodden and clung to her like a wet tea towel.
▪ The full kit is flexible enough to print on T-shirts, baseball hats, key-rings, mugs, aprons and tea towels.
■ VERB
bring
▪ I wished I'd thought to bring a towel with me.
▪ Had I brought a towel, I could have sat myself down on the sand.
▪ He had brought an old towel from home, planning to wipe Lily's blood with it and then throw it away.
fold
▪ Swallowing the stiffness in her throat, she folded the towel neatly on to the rail and combed her hair.
▪ Volunteered to fold towels in the shelter.
▪ He had folded the thin dish towel over his forearm and stood now with clasped hands.
grab
▪ They were all supposed to grab towels and run for their lives.
▪ I grab my towel and wrap it around myself, hiding everything I can.
hold
▪ Fearon reappeared holding a towel, his black hair glistening wet and rivulets running down his swarthy skin.
▪ Make sure that the wire retainer clips are pressed down firmly to hold the towel in place.
▪ He - Herr Schickert - was holding a towel to her neck.
▪ I see an overweight middle-aged man struggling to close it again whilst trying to hold his towel around his middle.
▪ It got quite bad after a while and I had to hold hot towels underneath him to get the blood moving.
put
▪ I am now allowed to put the towels around him to keep him warm.
▪ When I put the towel down, I pulled my chair a little inside the doors.
▪ She put the towel round her shoulders and sat down beside him.
▪ He put his cache of towels and clean plastic bags on the floor of the porch.
▪ The Boston bar put the towels on as the last cold beer fell into the frosted glasses.
▪ As well as often mis-clubbing him I might forget to put in a clean towel in the bag or something like that.
take
▪ When he hat finished he reached to the bed and taking the new bath towel put it around her shoulders.
▪ Then, taking the towel from the rail in front of the cooker, he wiped his face, head and forearms.
▪ With his other hand, he took the white tea towel from the rack and spread it on the drain board.
▪ She takes the towel off me and then squats down and begins brushing bits of hair off of my face with her fingers.
▪ Converse said, when Smitty took the towel from his mouth.
▪ He took a towel and wiped it.
▪ He put it back in the bag and took out the towel, soap and toothbrush.
throw
▪ But utility developers shouldn't throw in the towel just yet.
▪ You want to run because you never want to throw in the towel.
▪ It finally threw in the towel when the Prudential, the last remaining bidder, pulled out earlier this month.
▪ This is not to say that theater should throw in the towel.
▪ Finally, last Wednesday he threw in the towel, claiming he could no longer support Blunkett's policy on education.
▪ Some local manufacturers have simply thrown in the towel.
▪ Lee Rocker threw his towel into the audience and I caught it.
▪ By midnight, its masters had thrown in the towel, and put out the computer's original forecast.
use
▪ I use a small towel or newspapers.
▪ By the time they left, they had each used one towel, no washcloths.
▪ Bill Webster of Hilton said that at first it might be voluntary for guests to use their towels twice.
▪ Maybe he used a towel to pick up the iron teakettle.
▪ We used up about six towels, and took ages, each of us, to scrub the bath afterwards.
wrap
▪ John lifted her from the bath and wrapped a towel around her shoulders.
▪ Mr Barraza wrapped the towel around my shoulders, like a medic covering an open wound.
▪ She wrapped a towel around her and ran to the sitting-room, swearing under her breath.
▪ I happened to look up and see this guy a few feet away, wrapped in a towel, staring.
▪ She had severe bruises to the face and eyes and her head was wrapped in a towel.
▪ He looked at the thin smear of my blood on his palm, and wrapped a small black towel around my hand.
▪ People were coming out, wrapping themselves in towels, shivering and complaining.
▪ Ignoring his shrieks of outrage, I wrapped him in wet towels until his temperature dropped to 102.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
throw in the sponge/towel
▪ A good 4-5 season sleeping bag is a must for anyone who doesn't throw in the towel the minute October dawns.
▪ But utility developers shouldn't throw in the towel just yet.
▪ By midnight, its masters had thrown in the towel, and put out the computer's original forecast.
▪ If they start to see prices run up, they might throw in the towel.
▪ It finally threw in the towel when the Prudential, the last remaining bidder, pulled out earlier this month.
▪ Some local manufacturers have simply thrown in the towel.
▪ You want to run because you never want to throw in the towel.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ a bath towel
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ After I bury the dolls under the sheets and towels, I pick up my child, placing her against my chest.
▪ Finally, she covered him with a few towels from the van and left him on the ground.
▪ Green in the chrome of the Harley, in the beach towel hung on a peg.
▪ Her body was swathed in towels, except for the gap where her vest was pulled up.
▪ Mandy, I have a towel over my head.
▪ Top with warm cracklings that have been warmed in paper towels in the oven.
▪ Use the Steamatic's crease remover accessory with the towel to remove greasy marks and creases from your clothes and curtains.
II.verb
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ He pulled himself up, towelled himself dry, then slipped into his dressing gown.
▪ She got out of the bath and gave herself a mental shake as she quickly towelled herself dry.
Related phrases:
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Towel

Towel \Tow"el\, n. [OE. towaille, towail, F. touaille, LL. toacula, of Teutonic origin; cf. OHG. dwahila, swahilla, G. zwehle, fr. OHG. dwahan to wash; akin to D. dwaal a towel, AS. [thorn]we['a]n to wash, OS. thwahan, Icel. [thorn]v[=a], Sw. tv[*a], Dan. toe, Goth. [thorn]wahan. Cf. Doily.] A cloth used for wiping, especially one used for drying anything wet, as the person after a bath.

Towel gourd (Bot.), the fruit of the cucurbitaceous plant Luffa [AE]gyptiaca; also, the plant itself. The fruit is very fibrous, and, when separated from its rind and seeds, is used as a sponge or towel. Called also Egyptian bath sponge, and dishcloth.

Towel

Towel \Tow"el\, v. t. To beat with a stick. [Prov. Eng.]

Related phrases:
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
towel

mid-13c., from Old French toaille (12c.), from Frankish *thwahlja, from Proto-Germanic *thwahlijan (cognates: Old Saxon thwahila, Middle Dutch dwale "towel," Dutch dwaal "altar cloth," Old High German dwehila "towel," German dialectal Zwehle "napkin"); related to German zwagen, Old English þwean "to wash." Spanish toalla, Italian tovaglia are Germanic loan-words. To throw in the towel "admit defeat" (1915) is from boxing.

towel

1836 (transitive); 1861 (intransitive), from towel (n.). Related: Towelled; towelling.

Wiktionary
towel

n. A cloth used for wiping, especially one used for drying anything wet, as a person after a bath. vb. 1 To hit with a towel. 2 To dry by using a towel. 3 (context UK dialect obsolete English) To beat with a stick.

Related phrases:
WordNet
towel

  1. v. wipe with a towel; "towel your hair dry"

  2. [also: towelling, towelled]

towel

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

  2. [also: towelling, towelled]

Related phrases:
Wikipedia
Towel

A towel is a piece of absorbent fabric or paper used for drying or wiping a body or a surface. It draws moisture through direct contact, often using a blotting or a rubbing motion. In households, several types of fabric towels are used, including hand towels (small towels placed by a sink for drying the hands), bath towels (large towels for drying the hair and body after a bath or shower) and kitchen towels, which are used for drying dishes. In warm climates, people may also use beach towels, which are large towels used for drying off after swimming and for placing on beach surfaces. Common household textile towels are made from cotton, rayon, bamboo, non-woven fibers, and a few other materials. Paper towels are provided in commercial or office bathrooms for users to dry their hands. Paper towels are also used in households for a range of wiping, cleaning and drying tasks.

Related phrases:

Usage examples of "towel".

But the spell breaks, the cut is plunged into the aerated stream of her Puraflo faucet, the finger wrapped in a floral blue paper towel.

Taking the towel as Amine left to hang her clothes, Christina rubbed her body down vigorously.

She smiled and looked up at Ashe, who was kicking trie towel he had dropped on the floor under the bed.

The bathers reappeared on the grass-ridge, racing and flapping wet towels.

The colonel had been one of the bathers, and he stood like a circus-driver flicking a wet towel at Crossjay capering.

He took a step toward me, and I backed up abruptly, aware belatedly that I was clutching the towel to my bosom as though it were a shield.

Sarah finished washing Biffin the sink and, wrapping him in a towel, gave him to Olivia to hold while she fetched his pyjamas from the stove.

When she got back to couch, the towel came again into requisition, and she wiped herself all over in such a manner that all her charms were revealed to my eager eyes.

Nobody she said, the paper towel knotted tight in her hand, turning for the harsh chromo of boats on green water.

He was dried on towels of fine linen, perfumed with chypre and dressed in saffron-dyed linen breeches and a long tunic.

The mess hall still had a dozen or so crewmen in it as Cutler spread out the towel she had brought to cushion the sound of the bolts on the hard tabletop.

She looked at Dari for a moment, then walked to the privy room to collect dirty towels.

Mirri came and went, restocking towels and humming a sappy tune, and she gave Dari a cheerful wave as she carried out the last of the used linen.

When I had left the bath, she wiped me with towels, put on my shirt, and then in the same state--that is, quite naked, she did my hair.

Shegrabbed the towel from the rack and wrapped it around herself, the end neatly 147 likRita Clay Estrada tucked into the top.