handcloutn.
/ˈhan(d)klaʊt/, U.S. /ˈhæn(d)ˌklaʊt/, Scottish English /ˈhan(d)klʌʊt/, Irish English /ˈhæn(d)klaʊt/ English regional (chiefly Yorkshire), Scottish, and Irish English (northern).
= handcloth n. Sc. National Dict. (at Hand) records the word as still in use in Shetland, Angus, Midlothian, and southern Scotland in 1956.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > washing > washing oneself or body > [noun] > rubbing with towel > towel > hand-towel
handclothOE
hand towel1454
handclout1788
1788 W. Marshall Provincialisms E. Yorks. in Rural Econ. Yorks. II. 333 Handclout.., a towel.
1873 J. Harland Gloss. Words Swaledale p. xxi Tweea linen shifts an' a handclout.
1896 H. Ochiltree Redburn ix. 118 And that 's my mither's kist ower there filled to the tapmast wi' a' kinds o' linen sheets and slips, forbye a wheen table-covers and hand-clouts.
1928 A. E. Pease Dict. Dial. N. Riding Yorks. Handclout, a towel.
2007 Leaflet (Health Promotion Agency for Northern Ireland) Dinnae tak tha len o han-cloots or ither bodies' ain gear tha like o CD or MP3 yokes.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2013; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.1788