TOWEL  , a

cloth used for the purpose of drying the hands, face or body after bathing or washing . These cloths are made of different materials, known as " towellings," the two principal kinds are " huckaback," a slightly roughened material for chamber towels for face and hands, and Turkish towelling, with a much rougher surface, for bath towels; finer towellirgs are made of linen or damask . The term has a particular ecclesiastical usage as applied to a linen altar cloth or to a rich cloth of embroidered silk, velvet, &c., covering the altar at all " such periods when Mass is not being celebrated." The Mid . Eng. towaille comes through the O . Fr. towaille from the Low Lat. toacula, represented in other Romanic languages by Sp. toalla, Ital. tovaglia; this is to be referred to the Teutonic verb meaning " to wash," O . H . G. twahan, M . H . G. dwahen, O . Eng . 'mean, and cf . Ger .

Zwehle, provincial Eng. dwile, a dish-cloth .