drop cloth

American  

Or dropcloth

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.

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Etymology

Origin of drop cloth

First recorded in 1925–30

Example Sentences

Warning: This is a messy job best done over a drop cloth or on a floor you don’t mind getting very dirty.

From Seattle Times • Jan. 3, 2022

The bags contained a cover for a bow saw, a receipt from a local hardware store, a drop cloth and a newspaper with the delivery address of an apartment house in Galveston.

From New York Times • Mar. 3, 2020

She’s also found that the mats work well as a drop cloth under a baby’s high chair and, in a pinch, as a compact bath mat.

From Slate • Jan. 4, 2019

Linn said the debris around the body – wood, door trim, window trim, and blue plastic drop cloth – looked to him like the remnants from a residential remodeling job.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 16, 2016

He walked in, straightened the drop cloth in the front hall, and made his way to the back of the house.

From "Zeitoun" by Dave Eggers