cotton
Listen:Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
cotton/ˈkɒtn/
▶noun
- 1 a soft white fibrous substance which surrounds the seeds of the cotton plant and is used as textile fibre and thread for sewing.
■ fabric made from cotton fibre.
- 2 (also cotton plant) the tropical and subtropical plant commercially grown to make cotton fabric and thread. [Genus Gossypium.]
- 3 (also cotton batting) N. Amer. cotton wool.
- 1 (cotton on) begin to understand.
- 2 (cotton to) N. Amer. have a liking for.
– derivatives
cottony adjective.
cottony adjective.
– origin ME: from OFr. coton, from Arab. ḳuṭn.
'cotton' also found in these Oxford entries:
Aertex
- bafta
- balbriggan
- bale
- barathea
- baseball cap
- batiste
- batting
- bobbinet
- bog cotton
- boll
- boll weevil
- bollworm
- bombast
- bombazine
- braid
- brilliantine
- broadcloth
- broderie anglaise
- buckskin
- butter muslin
- calico
- cambric
- candlewick
- cargo pants
- cellulose
- charkha
- cheesecloth
- chino
- chintz
- cloth
- comb
- comber
- corduroy
- cotton bud
- cotton cake
- cotton candy
- cotton grass
- cotton lavender
- cotton-picking
- cotton spinner
- cotton swab
- cotton waste
- cotton wool
- crash
- cretonne
- crinoline
- cupro
- deergrass
