cot·ton
(kŏt́n)
[Middle English cotoun, from Old French coton, from Old Italian cotone, from Arabic quṭn, quṭun.]
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.
- The fiber of any of these plants, used in making textiles and other products.
- Thread or cloth manufactured from the fiber of these plants.
- The crop of these plants.
- Any of various soft downy substances produced by other plants, as on the seeds of a cottonwood.
intransitive verb: -toned, -ton·ing, -tons.
Informal- To take a liking; attempt to be friendly: a dog that didn't cotton to strangers; an administration that will cotton up to the most repressive of regimes.
- To come to understand. Often used with to or onto: “The German bosses . . . never cottoned to such changes” (N.R. Kleinfield)
