It dries off wet piece of earthenware a lot (3,5)
I believe the answer is:
tea towel
'it dries' is the definition.
'off wet piece of earthenware a lot' is the wordplay.
'off' indicates an anagram.
'piece of' suggests taking the first letters.
The initial letter of 'earthenware' is 'e'.
'wet'+'e'+'a'+'lot'='wetealot'
'wetealot' anagrammed gives 'TEA-TOWEL'.
(Other definitions for tea towel that I've seen before include "Wee total (anag) - drier" , "Washing-up cloth" , "Washing-up drier" , "Kitchen drier" , "Drying-up cloth" .)