Green’s Dictionary of Slang

a derog. term for an Arab from the Middle East.

1985		B. Humphries Traveller’s Tool 106: I’m here to tell you that those old teatowel-heads know how to make it uphill work.
1989		M. Amis London Fields 197: ‘The Shah of Iran, Keith.’ ‘The towelhead’.
1992		R.G. Barrett White Shoes 163: Forget about what those fuckin’ tea-towel-heads did to old Brumby.
1995		Arizona Republic (Phoenix, AZ) 3 May 9/2: Some Pakistanis [were] intersted in buying the motel [...] Those towelheads always hire their own kind.
2001		Indep. Rev. 27 Sept. 5: I’m not sure that ‘Operation Divine Towelhead-Blast’ will be all that helpful, George.
2002		The Apollonian Press ‘American Israelis & Palestinians at Odds’ Country Joe’s Place 🌐 Said fellow Jewie Steven Kalifowitivdz: ‘Israel has never been an aggressor in this conflict; it has only over-reacted in typical pre-programmed, Hebrew, teeny-bopper manner to aggressions from the Towlies.’.
2006		www.liberalavenger.com 1 Apr. 🌐 As you know, I do not hate all towelheads. I recognize that one or two of them aren’t genocidal killers bent on world domination.
2012		J. Díaz This Is How You Lose Her 186: [of a Dominican] A Jeep roars past; the driver calls you a fucking towelhead.
2017		News Jrnl (Wilmington, DE) 8 Jan. TV23/3: Towelhead — The life of an Arab-American teen.
2021		P. Papathanasiou Stoning 80: ‘Third wave [of immigrants], towelheads. Second wave, wogs. First wave, whitefellas’.

(Aus.) a childish person, a weakling.

1990

T. Winton Human Torpedo 113: How many of you can surf, eh? [...] Come on — who out of you farm boys and towel tuggers has got anythin’ to brag about?

1. (also chuck in…, sling in..., shoot in..., throw in the marble, ...the rag, throw the towel in, chuck…, towel it) to give in, to capitulate.

[1901		Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 2 July 2/7: Seeing there was no further hope for Ross, Con Regan skied the diaper].
1904		Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 7 Sept. 6/2: Waving wildly for a foul, one. of Pearl’s seconds dropped his towel over the ropes. Instantly the St. Peters mob raised a yell, ‘he towel's in’ .
1910		Bulletin (Sydney) 1 Dec. 15/3: The issue hung in the balance for long, but slowly the meat ants got the upper hand [...], and towards sundown there wasn’t one black ant to chuck the towel in.
1915		Drew & Evans Grifter 99: [H]e was down to his last six shillings, and felt like throwing in the towel.
1922		Wodehouse Clicking of Cuthbert 8: Never since his first entrance into intellectual circles had Cuthbert Banks come nearer to throwing in the towel.
1923		Wodehouse Inimitable Jeeves 169: He had found the going too hard and had chucked in the towel.
1924		G.H. Lawson Dict. of Aus. Words And Terms 🌐 THROW IN THE MARBLE — To relinquish.
1929		A.J. Barr Let Tomorrow Come 159: I’m not goin’ in. Throw in the rag.
1935		C. Drew ‘Ginger’ in Bulletin 24 July 50/1: Most of the come-ons stopped a hook on the jaw and went to sleep [...] The sensible ones sent in the towel before the debate had been goin’ a round.
1936		D. Parker ‘The Little Hours’ in Parker (1943) 114: I throw in the towel right now. I know when I’m licked.
1938		F. Anthony ‘Winter Feeding the Herd’ in Me And Gus (1977) 82: I know why I’m a bachelor; it’s because I got disheartened and slung in the towel.
1947		B. Schulberg Harder They Fall (1971) 136: I know when I’m licked, chum. I’m throwing in the towel.
1953		‘William Lee’ Junkie (1966) 37: Roy decided to throw in the towel and go to Riker’s Island for the ‘thirty-day cure.’.
1966		(con. 1958) R. Farina Been Down So Long (1972) 46: I was ready to throw in the towel when I Tried Taos.
1968		J. Alard He Who Shoots Last 225: No, we ain’t got no hope. We better shoot in da towel.
1975		L. Rosten Dear ‘Herm’ 192: I am at my wits ends and ready to say ‘O.K. O.K. I give up!’ and throw in the towel!
1983		A-Team Storybook 26: The troops on the ground, panicked and confused [...] threw in the towel.
1991		R.G. Barrett Between the Devlin 116: [H]e could feel himself getting drunk and quite tired, so he decided to towel it [...] and have an early night.
1997		C. Newland Scholar 250: He was frightened by what he’d seen and was ready to throw the towel in for good.
2000		F.X. Toole Rope Burns 200: The señora was ready to throw in the towel.
2001		D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 192/2: throw the towel in n. to stop coming to jail, to retire from one’s career as a criminal.
2010		K. Richards Life 431: He threw in the towel [...[ the macho bullshit didn’t mean anything.
2021		P. Howard Braywatch 142: ‘It doesn’t matter if it ended up being 500–0. You never, ever throw in the towel’.
2023		Rayman & Blau Riker’s 75: It’s like when there is a boxing match and you throw in the towel.

2. (also throw the handkerchief) to resign.

1901

Bulletin (Sydney) 26 Oct. 14/4: It’s always a dark day in ’Amen Corner’ when a bachelor shepherd ‘throws the handkerchief.’ Last time it happened hereabouts, patriarchs prayerfully ’disciplined’ the meenister, while ewe-lambs of the flock flooded him with tear-blotted anonymous letters.

3. (also throw in the sponge) to die.

1912		Bulletin (Sydney) 19 Dec. 16/4: When Bill Smith, trader, of St. Agnin’s (Papua), threw in the towel after a few rounds with fever, the residents of the lonely island decided to purchase a tombstone to commemorate Bill’s virtues.
1936		L. Pound ‘American Euphemisms for Dying’ in AS XI:3 200: Threw in the sponge.
2010		Codella and Bennett Alphaville (2011) 265: Rockets’s overtaxed body has thrown in the towel two years earlier, and he only attended in spirit.