—n.
1 a soft white fibrous substance covering the seeds of certain plants.
2 a (in full cotton plant) such a plant, esp. any of the genus Gossypium. b cotton-plants cultivated as a crop for the fibre or the seeds.
3 thread or cloth made from the fibre.
4 (attrib.) made of cotton.
—v.intr. (foll. by to) be attracted by (a person).
Phrases and idioms:
cotton-cake compressed cotton seed used as food for cattle. cotton candy US candyfloss. cotton-gin a machine for separating cotton from its seeds. cotton-grass any grasslike plant of the genus Eriophorum, with long white silky hairs. cotton on (often foll. by to) colloq. begin to understand. cotton-picking US sl. unpleasant, wretched. cotton waste refuse yarn used to clean machinery etc. cotton wool
1 esp. Brit. fluffy wadding of a kind orig. made from raw cotton.
2 US raw cotton.
Derivatives:
cottony adj.
Etymology: ME f. OF coton f. Arab. kutn
Useful english dictionary. 2012.