tea towel

Meanings

1. 1nouncountable

   A thin cloth kept in the kitchen for drying washed dishes, glasses and cutlery.

   Grammar: Countable: one tea towel, two tea towels.

   Patterns

   • dry something with a tea towel
   • wipe something with a tea towel

   She hung the wet tea towel over the oven door to dry.

   Could you grab a clean tea towel from the drawer and dry these glasses?

   He tucked a tea towel into his belt while he cooked.

2. 2nouncountable

   A printed cloth of this kind sold as a souvenir or gift, often showing a place, map or recipe.

   Grammar: Countable; often used with a description: a souvenir tea towel.

   Patterns

   • a tea towel with something on it

   We bought a tea towel printed with a map of Cornwall.

   My aunt collects a tea towel from every town she visits.

   The gift shop sold a tea towel decorated with local birds.

Word forms

Common combinations

dry with a tea towel

Rinse the mugs and dry them with a tea towel.

clean tea towel

Cover the dough with a clean tea towel while it rises.

damp tea towel

Wrap the bread in a damp tea towel to keep it soft.

souvenir tea towel

Her kitchen wall displayed a framed souvenir tea towel from Wales.

drape a tea towel over

He draped a tea towel over his shoulder and began to dry up.

Synonyms and how they differ

dish towel

This is the usual American term, whereas tea towel sounds distinctly British.

dishcloth

A dishcloth is normally used for washing dishes wet, while a tea towel is for drying them.

kitchen towel

This can mean a tea towel but also paper rolls, so it is less precise.

Word family

tea noun

the drink, which gives the cloth its name

towel noun

an absorbent cloth for drying

tea cloth noun

an older, less common word for the same item

Commonly confused: tea towel or tea cozy?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “tea towel”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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