[f. TOWEL sb. and v. + -ING1.]
I. 1. Linen cloth to be made into towels; material for or of towels.
1583. Rates of Custome ho., B vj b. Diaper toweling the peece xxx. s.
1640. in Entick, London (1766), II. 167. Damask for towelling and napkenning.
1862. Catal. Internat. Exhib., Brit., II. No. 3742. Sheetings, towellings, huckabacks.
1880. ‘Ouida,’ Moths, II. 19. A dozen yards of bath towelling.
b. A piece of this material, a towel. nonce-use.
1845. Browning, Flight of Duchess, xi. 15. To wash the hands of her liege In a clean ewer with a fair toweling.
II. 2. Rubbing with, or application of, a towel.
1859. Dickens, T. Two Cities, II. xi. A correspondingly extra quantity of wine had preceded the [wet] towelling. Ibid. (1865), Mut. Fr., I. vi. His head was soon in a basin of water, and out of it again, and staring at her through a storm of towelling.
1905. ‘Q’ (Quiller-Couch), Shining Ferry, iv. Her cheeks glowed after a vigorous towelling.
3. slang. A beating, drubbing, thrashing.
1851. Mayhew, Lond. Labour, I. 421/1. I got a towelling, but it did not do me much good.
1906. Blackw. Mag., April, 446/2. The towelling administered to a dog … was not pleasant to behold.
