- a soft, white, downy substance consisting of the hairs or fibers attached to the seeds of plants belonging to the genus Gossypium, of the mallow family, used in making fabrics, thread, wadding, etc.
- the plant itself, having spreading branches and broad, lobed leaves.
- such plants collectively as a cultivated crop.
- cloth, thread, a garment, etc., of cotton.
- any soft, downy substance resembling cotton, but growing on other plants.
- to get along; to agree (usually in the negative and followed by with): She didn't cotton with hypocrites.I don't cotton with conventional wisdom on this.
- to prosper or succeed.
- cotton (on) to, Informal.
- to come to a full understanding of; grasp or realize: Once you cotton on to this principle, you see examples of it everywhere. Eventually both sets of parents cottoned on to the fact that the kids were lying about “studying” together.
- to become fond of; begin to like: I cottoned to the new girl right away when I saw she knew how to muck out a stall.
- to approve of; agree with: Some organic gardeners freeze the insects in a container and then put them out for the birds, but your kids may not cotton to this idea.
- U.S. clergyman, colonist, and author (grandfather of Cotton Mather).
- any of various herbaceous plants and shrubs of the malvaceous genus Gossypium, such as sea-island cotton, cultivated in warm climates for the fibre surrounding the seeds and the oil within the seeds
- the soft white downy fibre of these plants: used to manufacture textiles
- cotton plants collectively, as a cultivated crop
- a cloth or thread made from cotton fibres
- (as modifier)
- any substance, such as kapok (silk cotton), resembling cotton but obtained from other plants
- Sir Henry. 1907–87, English golfer: three times winner of the British Open (1934, 1937, 1948)
