Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Any of various shrubby plants of the genus Gossypium, having showy flowers and grown for the soft white downy fibers surrounding oil-rich seeds.
- noun The fiber of any of these plants, used in making textiles and other products.
- noun Thread or cloth manufactured from the fiber of these plants.
- noun Any of various soft downy substances produced by other plants, as on the seeds of a cottonwood.
- intransitive verb To take a liking; attempt to be friendly.
- intransitive verb To come to understand. Often used with to or onto.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun Same as
Kafir *cotton . - noun See
cotton-weed , 3. - noun Same as
Natal *cotton . - To rise with a nap, like cotton.
- To envelop in cotton; hence, to coddle; make much of.
- To agree; suit; fit or go well together.
- To become closely or intimately associated (with); acquire a strong liking (for); take (to): absolutely or with to, formerly
with . - noun The white fibrous substance clothing the seeds of the cotton-plant (Gossypium). See cut under
cotton-plant . - noun Cloth made of cotton.
- noun Thread made of cotton: as, a spool of cotton contains 200 yards.
- noun The wick of a candle.
- noun The cotton-plant; cotton-plants collectively.
- Made of cotton; consisting of cotton: as, cotton cloth.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- intransitive verb obsolete To rise with a regular nap, as cloth does.
- intransitive verb obsolete To go on prosperously; to succeed.
- intransitive verb colloq. To unite; to agree; to make friends; -- usually followed by
with . - intransitive verb Slang To take a liking to; to stick to one as cotton; -- used with
to . - 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.
- noun Cloth made of cotton.
- noun See
Cambric , n., 2. - noun the manufactures' name for a heavy cotton fabric, twilled, and with a long plush nap. In England it is called
swan's-down cotton , orCanton flannel . - noun a machine to separate the seeds from cotton, invented by Eli Whitney.
- noun (Bot.) a genus of plants (Eriphorum) of the Sedge family, having delicate capillary bristles surrounding the fruit (seedlike achenia), which elongate at maturity and resemble tufts of cotton.
- noun (Zool.) a field mouse (
Hesperomys gossypinus ), injurious to cotton crops. - noun (Bot.) a plant of the genus Gossypium, of several species, all growing in warm climates, and bearing the cotton of commerce. The common species, originally Asiatic, is
Gossypium herbaceum . - noun a building and machinery in which cotton bales are compressed into smaller bulk for shipment; a press for baling cotton.
- noun (Bot.) a genus of composite herbs (Filago), covered with a white substance resembling cotton.
- noun (Zoöl.) a species of bark louse (
Pulvinaria innumerabilis ), which does great damage to the cotton plant. - noun Same as
Cotton plant . - noun (Zoöl.) a species of hemipterous insect (
Dysdercus suturellus ), which seriously damages growing cotton by staining it; -- called alsoredbug . - noun (Bot.) the Scotch thistle. See under
Thistle . - noun velvet in which the warp and woof are both of cotton, and the pile is of silk; also, velvet made wholly of cotton.
- noun the refuse of cotton mills.
- noun cotton in its raw or woolly state.
- noun (Zool.) a lepidopterous insect (
Aletia argillacea ), which in the larval state does great damage to the cotton plant by eating the leaves. It also feeds on corn, etc., and hence is often calledcorn worm , andSouthern army worm .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A plant that encases its
seed in a thinfiber that is harvested and used as afabric orcloth . - noun A type of plant used as a source of cotton fiber.
- noun textiles The
textile made from thefiber harvested from the cottonplant . - noun An item of clothing made from cotton.
- adjective Made of cotton.
- verb To
get on with someone or something; to have a goodrelationship with someone.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun fabric woven from cotton fibers
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Peel then pointed out peculiar and decisive distinctions between the case of sugar, and that of cotton, tobacco, and coffee; that, though all of them were the produce of slave labour -- First, we cannot now reject the _cotton_ of the United States, without endangering to the last degree the manufacturing prosperity of the kingdom.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine — Volume 55, No. 339, January, 1844 Various
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_A cotton and silk umbrella_ means one umbrella partly cotton and partly silk; _cotton_ and _silk_ modify the same noun -- _umbrella_.
Higher Lessons in English A work on english grammar and composition Brainerd Kellogg
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-- _A cotton and a silk umbrella_ means two umbrellas -- one cotton and the other silk; the word umbrella is understood after _cotton_.
Higher Lessons in English A work on english grammar and composition Brainerd Kellogg
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Vermont, in the year following, the _cotton gin_ was invented, and an unparalleled impulse given to the cultivation of cotton.
Cotton is King, and Pro-Slavery Arguments Comprising the Writings of Hammond, Harper, Christy, Stringfellow, Hodge, Bledsoe, and Cartrwright on This Important Subject E. N. [Editor] Elliott
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The cheapest and best covering of a bed, for Winter, is a _cotton comforter_, made to contain three or four pounds of cotton, laid in batts or sheets, between covers tacked together at regular intervals.
A Treatise on Domestic Economy For the Use of Young Ladies at Home and at School Catharine Esther Beecher 1839
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And, on every such motion, we shall hear repeated, as we have done already, the same objections: that it will ruin trade and commerce; that it will destroy the revenue, and prostrate the navy; that it will enhance the prices of articles of the first necessity, and thus be taxing the poor; and that it will destroy the cotton market, _and stop the future growth of cotton_. "
Cotton is King, and Pro-Slavery Arguments Comprising the Writings of Hammond, Harper, Christy, Stringfellow, Hodge, Bledsoe, and Cartrwright on This Important Subject E. N. [Editor] Elliott
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In the audition videos, most girls failed to fully enunciate the word "cotton," she says.
The Newcomers John Jurgensen 2011
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As the cotton is usually the property of English purchasers who have ordered it beforehand in exchange for their cargoes of English manufactured goods, this
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The EDP reports on the Tory candidate's unwillingness to take part on live debates and hints that the BBC East debate which the Tories signed up for and which has been plugged by the BBC for the last fortnight may have to be pulled because Tory candidate Chloe Smith is being "wrapped in cotton wool" and kept from debating issues.
Who's afraid to discuss the issues in Norwich North ? Norfolk Blogger 2009
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The EDP reports on the Tory candidate's unwillingness to take part on live debates and hints that the BBC East debate which the Tories signed up for and which has been plugged by the BBC for the last fortnight may have to be pulled because Tory candidate Chloe Smith is being "wrapped in cotton wool" and kept from debating issues.
Archive 2009-07-01 Norfolk Blogger 2009
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