towel
Americannoun
-
towels
plural
verb (used with object)
-
towels,
present (3rd person singular)
-
toweled,
past participle, past
-
towelled,
past participle, past (especially British)
-
toweling,
present participle
-
towelling
present participle (especially British)
idioms
noun
-
a square or rectangular piece of absorbent cloth or paper used for drying the body
-
a similar piece of cloth used for drying plates, cutlery, etc
-
See throw in
verb
-
to dry or wipe with a towel
-
slang to assault or beat (a person)
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
towelsimple
-
towelssimple
-
have toweledperfect
-
have towelledperfect
-
has toweledperfect
-
has towelledperfect
-
am towelingprogressive
-
am towellingprogressive
-
are towelingprogressive
-
are towellingprogressive
-
is towelingprogressive
-
is towellingprogressive
-
have been towelingperfect progressive
-
have been towellingperfect progressive
-
has been towelingperfect progressive
-
has been towellingperfect progressive
Past
-
toweledsimple
-
towelledsimple
-
had toweledperfect
-
had towelledperfect
-
was towelingprogressive
-
was towellingprogressive
-
were towelingprogressive
-
were towellingprogressive
-
had been towelingperfect progressive
-
had been towellingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of towel
1250–1300; Middle English (noun) < Old French toaille cloth for washing or wiping < West Germanic *thwahliō (> Old High German dwahilla, akin to dwahal bath); cognate with Gothic thwahl, thwēal washing
Explanation
When you get out of the shower, the first thing you do is grab a towel and dry off. A towel is a piece of material that's used to absorb moisture. Towels come in many sizes and styles, from enormous terrycloth beach towels to sheets of paper towel you use for wiping up kitchen spills. What they have in common is absorbency—they're made to soak up liquids. You can also use towel as a verb: "The dog is soaking wet! Towel her off before you let her on your bed!" And when you've utterly given up on something, use the boxing-related phrase "throw in the towel."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
During Thursday’s show, Guthrie draped a sash across Melvin as Daly placed a dark-blue towel over Melvin’s shoulders cape-style.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 22, 2026
After his defeat in the semi-finals of the Wuhan Open in August, O'Sullivan said he did not "want to throw in the towel just yet".
From BBC ● Oct. 20, 2026
"I have pretty much thrown in the towel on classic writing assignments for lower-level classes," Paustian told AFP.
From Barron's ● Oct. 6, 2026
Yet bond investors aren’t throwing in the towel.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 5, 2026
Just the crumpled towel and his own reflection staring back at him from the mirror.
From "Night Owls" by A.R. Vishny
In the corner of the room there were household items, food and water and diapers and paper towels.
From Slate ● Oct. 26, 2026
Chatbots might work for buying paper towels, he quipped at a Skift conference last month, but people enjoy planning trips.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2026
It was good to see the Rams celebrate their early L.A. history by wearing gold jerseys and by giving the SoFi fans 1951 championship towels.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 26, 2026
It started appearing in my parents’ pantry in Costco two-packs, usually beside gigantic cases of bottled water, enough paper towels to absorb a malfunctioning sprinkler system and gallon-sized jugs of olive oil.
From Salon ● Sep. 20, 2026
We throw our towels and beach bags down.
From "The Miscalculations of Lightning Girl" by Stacy McAnulty
Gary offered Noah his paddle eraser then toweled off the top of his bare head.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 23, 2025
When he is toweled off after a walk, Campbell puts the wet towel over the floor grill so the heat dries it.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 19, 2024
At Bolsa Chica State Beach in Orange County, surfers toweled off in the parking lot as glassy waves broke on the sand, although officially the shoreline was closed.
From New York Times ● Oct. 4, 2021
After whisking him out of the Jogger, I carried him into the house, laid him on his big changing table, removed his drenched clothes, toweled him off, and dressed him in dry clothes.
From Salon ● Jun. 16, 2019
She even toweled off the thin hair in my armpits, which kind of tickled, but there was no way I was about to giggle.
From "Winger" by Andrew Smith
That meant the roof needed to come on, and the court be towelled down.
From BBC ● Jan. 26, 2022
She sat in the shade, her light-brown hair pulled into a tight knot and slicked dark with sweat, and towelled off her powerful arms.
From The New Yorker ● May 29, 2019
When I glanced over as we towelled off during the break, he didn’t look nearly as tired as I hoped.
From The New Yorker ● Jan. 18, 2016
He washed his hands and face and towelled himself dry, making little sound.
From "Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury
He towelled himself vigorously, making the muscles of his biceps ripple, then he sat down on the rocks and reached for his pipe.
From "Boy: Tales of a Childhood" by Roald Dahl
Fernando is over on the bench, toweling off.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 27, 2024
After a thorough rinsing and before toweling them dry, I give my scallops a milk bath, letting them soak for as long as it takes to prep my ingredients.
From Salon ● Sep. 26, 2024
Ruidiaz posted to his Instagram stories video of teammates toweling off.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 9, 2024
Medvedev said he felt dizzy afterward and that both he and Rublev rubbed their faces raw by toweling off so frequently.
From Washington Times ● Sep. 6, 2023
“Kind of,” I answered, toweling off a chipped plate.
From "If I Stay" by Gayle Forman
"When I was little, we still had the terry towelling nappies and they had to be washed and hung on the line. So I think with disposable nappies it's easier," she said.
From BBC ● Oct. 5, 2026
"I became known for being in those meetings wearing a towelling robe."
From BBC ● Sep. 22, 2026
But Spicer’s statement that the president “definitely” did not wear a bathrobe was called into question when old photographs of Trump rugged up in towelling and terry cloth were circulated on social media.
From The Guardian ● Feb. 7, 2017
It is modern, covers 800 acres, employs 14,000 and produces a steady 90 tonnes of towelling a day.
From Economist ● Jul. 9, 2015
“But I am not a fortune-teller,” he said, letting his head drop into a festoon of towel, and towelling away at his two ears.
From "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
