I. ˈkä-t ə n noun
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: Middle English coton, from Anglo-French cotun, from Old Italian cotone, from Arabic quṭun, quṭn
Date: 14th century
1.
a. : a soft usually white fibrous substance composed of the hairs surrounding the seeds of various erect freely branching tropical plants (genus Gossypium ) of the mallow family
b. : a plant producing cotton ; especially : one grown for its cotton
c. : a crop of cotton
2.
a. : fabric made of cotton
b. : yarn spun from cotton
3. : a downy cottony substance produced by various plants (as the cottonwood)
[
cotton: 1 flowering branch; 2 fruit, unopened; 3 fruit, partly opened
]
II. intransitive verb
( cot·toned ; cot·ton·ing ˈkät-niŋ, ˈkä-t ə n-iŋ)
Date: 1605
1. : to take a liking — used with to
cotton s to people easily
2. : to come to understand — used with to or on to
cotton ed on to the fact that our children work furiously — H. M. McLuhan