terry towel
- noun
- /ˈtɛri taʊəl/
:
toalla de toalla
- After my shower, I wrapped myself in a soft terry towel to dry off.
Examples
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I need a new terry towel for my bathroom.
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All the hotel bathrooms are stocked with thick terry towels for guests.
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I prefer using a terry towel because it dries me off quickly.
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She wrapped herself in a soft terry towel after her shower.
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The terry towels at the hotel were very soft.
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She used a terry towel to gently pat her skin dry after swimming.
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He always keeps a terry towel handy to absorb the water after his workouts.
Synonyms
565
1.0
A piece of cloth or paper used to dry people and objects
5
1.0
A large towel used to dry yourself after swimming at the beach
4
1.0
A large cloth that dries your body after a bath or shower
1
3.5
A thick cloth from Turkey that dries your body after a bath
A long loop of cloth that turns on a roller for drying hands
How Absorbent
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a towel made from terry cloth' is directly and compositionally derived from 'terry' (a fabric type used for towels) + 'towel' (an absorbent cloth). This noun–noun compound follows a common, cross‑linguistic pattern (material + object), so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily infer the MWE’s meaning.
Etymology
Terry towel comes from terry, the name of a cloth that may come from an old French word for 'to pull', because cloth makers pulled up many small loops of thread on the surface. Those loops make the towel soft and very good at 'absorbing' water, so terry towel means a towel with a looped surface that dries you quickly.