chammy leather
- noun
- /ˈʃæmi ˈlɛðər/
- I use a piece of chammy leather to clean my car.
Examples
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He polished the car with a chammy leather to give it a brilliant shine.
-
Many detailers swear by chammy leather for drying and buffing vehicles.
-
A chammy leather absorbs water quickly, making it ideal for cleaning windows.
-
The chammy leather is perfect for polishing glass surfaces.
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He polished the car with a chammy leather to give it a brilliant shine.
-
A chammy leather absorbs water quickly, making it ideal for cleaning windows.
-
Many detailers swear by chammy leather for drying and buffing vehicles.
Synonyms
4
9.1
A soft cloth made from leather used for cleaning and polishing things
1
8.0
A soft leather cloth used to dry and polish things like cars or shoes
1
5.6
A soft cloth that soaks up water and polishes cars and windows
1
9.9
A soft, thin leather cloth used for drying and polishing cars
1
7.3
A soft cloth made from animal skin used to dry and polish surfaces
A soft cloth made from animal skin that soaks up water and polishes surfaces
Soft absorbent cloth used to clean and shine cars and other surfaces
How Absorbent
Surface Forms
Morphology
The noun phrase is compositional: 'chammy' names a soft, polishing-quality suede and 'leather' names treated animal skin, so together they denote a kind of leather used for cleaning/polishing. This type-of/material + noun pattern is straightforward and cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents can readily infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
Chammy leather comes from the soft skin of a small mountain goat called a 'chamois'. That soft skin became known as chammy and was a kind of leather people used for wiping, drying, and polishing, which is why the phrase now means a soft leather for cleaning.