From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishtea towelˈtea ˌtowel noun [countable] British EnglishDHC a small cloth that you use for drying cups, plates etc after you have washed them SYN dish towel American English
Examples from the Corpus
tea towel• She was drying a plate on a tea towel.• He flung the damp tea towel on to the table.• Her thin denim jacket was sodden and clung to her like a wet tea towel.• With his other hand, he took the white tea towel from the rack and spread it on the drain board. 