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Glite Dictionary
shammy leather

shammy leather

6.1
A soft cloth made from animal skin that soaks up water and polishes surfaces
  • noun
  • /ˈʃæmi ˈlɛðər/
  • US
translation icon : cuero de chamois
  • He wiped the car with a shammy leather to remove the water spots.

Examples

  • Always store your shammy leather damp to keep it soft and pliable.

  • A clean shammy leather is perfect for polishing windows.

  • I bought a new shammy leather cloth for cleaning my car.

  • The shammy leather is perfect for polishing glass.

  • A clean shammy leather is perfect for polishing windows.

  • He wiped the car with a shammy leather to remove the water spots.

  • Always store your shammy leather damp to keep it soft and pliable.

Synonyms

chamois
vsshammy leather
3 9.1

A soft cloth made from leather used for cleaning and polishing things

is typically made from sheepskin today rather than original antelope skin
shammy
vsshammy leather
  • US
1 8.0

A soft leather cloth used to dry and polish things like cars or shoes

is the longer form that explicitly names the material as leather
chammy
vsshammy leather
1 9.9

A soft, thin leather cloth used for drying and polishing cars

is used specifically for cleaning and polishing surfaces rather than as raw material
chamois leather
vsshammy leather
7.3

A soft cloth made from animal skin used to dry and polish surfaces

is focused on use for cleaning and polishing surfaces rather than on texture
chammy leather
vsshammy leather
8.2

A soft, flexible material from animal skin that you use to clean and polish

is mainly used for cleaning and polishing surfaces rather than noting origin
wash leather
vsshammy leather
7.3

Soft absorbent cloth used to clean and shine cars and other surfaces

is the material type rather than a single usable piece
chamois cloth
vsshammy leather
5.6

A soft cloth that soaks up water and polishes cars and windows

is specifically the leather form used for cleaning and polishing surfaces

How Absorbent

microfiber
  • US
4 3.7
shammy leather
  • US
6.1
towel
565 1.0

Surface Forms

shammy leather singular
shammy leathers plural

Morphology

shammy + leather

The phrase is fully compositional: 'shammy' denotes an absorbent cleaning leather and 'leather' names the material, so 'shammy leather' straightforwardly means leather of the shammy (absorbent/cleaning) type. This adjective+noun pattern is a regular, cross-linguistically common construction, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would be able to infer the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

The name shammy leather comes from the French word 'chamois', the soft skin of a mountain goat-like animal that people long ago used for cleaning and polishing. Because that skin was very soft and soaked up water, the name now means a soft leather often made from 'sheepskin' and used to dry and polish things.