Cotton Definition

kŏtn
cottoned, cottoning, cottons
noun
cottons
The soft, white seed hairs filling the seedpods of various shrubby plants (genus Gossypium) of the mallow family, originally native to the tropics.
Webster's New World
A plant or plants producing this material.
Webster's New World
The crop of such plants.
Webster's New World
Thread or cloth made of cotton.
Webster's New World
A downy, cottonlike substance growing on other plants.
Webster's New World
Synonyms:
verb
cottoned
To take a liking; attempt to be friendly.
A dog that didn't cotton to strangers; an administration that will cotton up to the most repressive of regimes.
American Heritage
To come to understand. Often used with to or onto .
American Heritage

To get on with someone or something; to have a good relationship with someone.

Wiktionary
adjective
Of cotton.
Webster's New World
Made of cotton.
Wiktionary
pronoun
The name of several settlements around the world.
Wiktionary
Wiktionary

A surname​.

Wiktionary
idiom
cotton on
  • to begin to comprehend (something)
Webster's New World
cotton to
  • to become drawn to; take a liking to
Webster's New World
cotton up to
  • to try to ingratiate oneself, or make friends, with
Webster's New World

Other Word Forms of Cotton

Noun

Singular:
cotton
Plural:
cottons

Idioms, Phrasal Verbs Related to Cotton

Origin of Cotton

  • Middle English cotoun, from Anglo-Norman cotun, Old French coton, from Old Italian (Genoa) cotone, from Arabic (Egypt) قطن (qúţun), Andalusian Arabic [script?] (quṭūn), variants of Arabic قُطْن (quṭn), from root [script?] (*qţn), possibly originally from Ancient Egyptian.

    From Wiktionary

  • 1560s, either from Welsh cydun, cytun (“agree, coincide”) (cyduno, cytuno), from cyd, cyt + un (“one”), literally “to be at one with”, or by metaphor with the textile, as cotton blended well with other textiles, notably wool in hat-making.

    From Wiktionary

  • Middle English cotoun from Old French coton from Old Italian cotone from Arabic quṭn, quṭun qṭn in Semitic roots

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • Cognate to Dutch katoen, German Kattun, Italian cotone, Spanish algodón, and Portuguese algodão.

    From Wiktionary

  • Old English cot-tūn (“cottage farmstead”), from cot (“cottage”) + tūn (“homestead”)

    From Wiktionary

  • Hebrew קָתָן (katan, “small”)

    From Wiktionary

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