cotton
UK /ˈkɒt.n̩/ · US /ˈkɑt.n̩/ noun, adjective, verb, proper noun
Forms cottons cottoning cottoned
- noun (uncountable) A soft, fibrous, usually white substance consisting of fine hairs, especially the substance around the seeds of a plant of genus Gossypium.
- noun (uncountable) Any similar soft, fibrous, white substance of fine hairs, of any origin.
- noun A plant of genus Gossypium, used as a source of such fiber.
- noun Any plant that encases its seed in a thin fiber that is harvested and used as a fabric or cloth.
- noun (uncountable, textiles) Textiles made from the fiber harvested from a cotton plant, especially Gossypium.
- noun (countable) An item of clothing made from such textiles.
- noun (recreational drugs) A small piece of cotton used as a filter when drawing up a drug into a syringe.
- noun (uncountable) Thread of such fiber.
- adjective Made of cotton.
- verb (transitive) To provide with cotton.
- verb To supply with a cotton wick.
- verb To fill with a wad of cotton.
- verb (horticulture) To wrap with a protective layer of cotton fabric.
- verb To cover walls with fabric.
- verb (tar and cotton) To cover with cotton bolls over a layer of tar (analogous to tar and feather )
- verb To raise a nap, providing with a soft, cottony texture.
- verb To develop a porous, cottony texture.
- verb To get on with someone or something; to have a good relationship with someone.
- noun A liking.
- proper noun A village and civil parish in Staffordshire Moorlands district, Staffordshire, England (OS grid ref SK0645).
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle English cotoun, from Anglo-Norman cotun, Old French coton, from (Genoese) Old Italian cotone, from Arabic قُطُن (quṭun), from Hebrew כֻּתֹּנֶת (kuttṓnĕṯ).
First use appears c. the 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 Old English cottūn (“cottage farmstead”), from cot (“cottage”) + tūn (“homestead”).
From Hebrew קָתָן (katan, “small”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun A soft, downy substance, resembling fine wool, consisting of the unicellular twisted hairs which grow on the seeds of the cotton plant. Long-staple cotton has a fiber sometimes almost two inches long; short-staple, from two thirds of an inch to an inch and a half.
- noun The cotton plant. See Cotten plant, below.
- verb To rise with a regular nap, as cloth does. [Obs.]
- verb To go on prosperously; to succeed. [Obs.]
Etymology [F. coton, Sp. algodon the cotton plant and its wool, coton printed cotton, cloth, fr. Ar. qutun, alqutun, cotton wool. Cf. Acton, Hacqueton.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “cotton”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details