drop cloth

or dropcloth

noun

1. a sheet of cloth, paper, plastic, or the like laid over furniture and floors for protection while a room is being painted or laid over shrubbery while the exterior of a house is being painted.

Word History and Origins

Origin of drop cloth¹

First recorded in 1925–30

Example Sentences

As I mentioned, a space blanket even makes a clean drop cloth for field dressing game.

From Popular-Science

For the moment it’s just a big glass room filled with wicker furniture covered in drop cloths, empty stone planters, and flagstone pathways.

From MIT Technology Review

I stood in front of a black drop cloth in an old factory building in Brooklyn.

From The Daily Beast