Wipe on/with

Question

Could you please suggest which of the following

variants is grammatically correct?

1) wipe one's hands with a towel

2) wipe one's hands on a towel

My dictionary suggests #2, though I encounter #1

on the Internet from time to time, and #1 is more

natural for me.

Thanks in advance.

--

Victor

Avangi · Accepted Answer

1) wipe one's hands with a towel

2) wipe one's hands on a towel

They're both correct, but some might say that the processes they describe are a bit different.

The implication is that one thing moves while the other is stationary. Of course that's not always exactly true.

If you wipe your nose on your sleeve, you hold your arm still and move your head back and forth.
If you wipe your nose withyour sleeve, you hold your head still, and move your arm back and forth.

Is that gross, or what?

If your hands are covered with motor oil, and there's a big old towel lying on the table, you'd wipe your hands on the towel, at first without picking it up.

If somebody tosses you a rag, you'd catch it with one hand and wipe the other hand with it.

If you wash your hands in a basin, and then find a towel hanging from a rod, you might choose to wipe your hands on the towel while it remains hanging.
If you remove it from the rod and hold it in one hand while wiping the other, that would be described as wiping with the towel.

Some may feel there's no difference.

If you wipe your hands on your pants, don't say "with," especially if you're wearing them.

Wipe on/with

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