towelling

Noun

towelling (usually uncountable, plural towellings)

1. (countable, uncountable, usually) Any fabric suitable for towels, such as huckaback or terry cloth.
   • My rule is to give for winter a linsey suit, one shirt of best towelling, one hat, one pair of shoes, a good blanket, costing $2 to $2 50, every other year […]1852, J. D. B. De Bow, The Industrial Resources of the Southern and Western States
2. (countable, usually) A thrashing.
   • Officer Whittle then consulted another colleague. "My choices are — make an enemy of Scott [Budd] for life and run the charges, risk making the AFP look poorly because Scott is towelling the bloke up in the cells like a c**khead," the email read.2026 July 4, Amy Greenbank, Jade Toomey, Dylan Welch, “Extraordinary internal police emails revealed after Indigenous man allegedly beaten by officer”, in ABC News, Australian Broadcasting Corporation