Word.ws English Dictionary

cotton

Syllables: cot·tonUK/ˈkɒt.n̩//ˈkɑt.n̩/

cotton noun: a soft, fibrous, usually white substance consisting of fine hairs, especially the substance around the seeds of a plant of genus Gossypium.

cotton: a soft, fibrous, usually white substance consisting of fine hairs, especially the substance around...
Image: കാക്കര, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun (1)

cotton (usually uncountable, plural cottons)

  1. (usually) A soft, fibrous, usually white substance consisting of fine hairs, especially the substance around the seeds of a plant of genus Gossypium.
  2. (usually) Any similar soft, fibrous, white substance of fine hairs, of any origin.
  3. (usually) A plant of genus Gossypium, used as a source of such fiber.
    • K'a-shih has the most extensive cotton-growing area which amounted to 950 000 mou (6.3 million ares) in 1965.1976, Chuen-Yan David Lai, “Developments of Cotton Cultivation in Sinkiang”, in Pacific Viewpoint, volume 17, number 2, →DOI, archived from the original on 30 Jun 2020, page 162
  4. (usually) Any plant that encases its seed in a thin fiber that is harvested and used as a fabric or cloth.
  5. (usually) Textiles made from the fiber harvested from a cotton plant, especially Gossypium.
    • Now that she had rested and had fed from the luncheon tray Mrs. Broome had just removed, she had reverted to her normal gaiety. She looked cool in a grey tailored cotton dress with a terracotta scarf and shoes and her hair a black silk helmet.1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 2, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC
  6. (countable, usually) An item of clothing made from such textiles.
    • The little girls appeared, looking fresh and cool in pretty pink cottons, and we two elder ones seized the opportunity of making a more elaborate toilette than usual.1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 34
    • The old man wore the simplest cottons, faded from long use and countless washings.1987 October, Galen Rowell, “Baltistan: The 20th Century Comes to Shangri-la”, in National Geographic, volume 172, number 4, page 526
  7. (usually, recreational drugs) A small piece of cotton used as a filter when drawing up a drug into a syringe.
    • Do not re-use needles; use fresh cottons each time.1989 February 12, “Safer Sex and Drug Use Guidelines”, in Gay Community News, volume 16, number 30, page 12
  8. (usually) Thread of such fiber.
  9. (archaic, usually) A wick of a candle.

Adjective

cotton (not comparable)

  1. Made of cotton.

Verb (1)

cotton (third-person singular simple present cottons, present participle cottoning, simple past and past participle cottoned)

  1. (transitive) To provide with cotton.
    • Goddamned fools had cottoned the land, and just worked it to death, destroying the topsoil, so it blew away, and then, when the rains came, gullied it, so that it wasn't worth a damn for anything.1986, W. E. B. Griffin, The Majors, →ISBN, page 52
    • Eyes closed, ears cottoned, the mind produces its own interior messages.1990, Seymour W. Itzkoff, The Making of the Civilized Mind, page 69
    1. (transitive) To supply with a cotton wick.
      • Supposing a frame, or set of moulds, as represented at B, to have wicks carried through each mould, or regularly cottoned, and each wick to be held accurately in the centre of the mould by means of the series of nippers shown at fig. 8, the moulds are first taken to the position shown at B 1, figs....1838, William Newton, The London Journal of Arts and Sciences, and Repertory of Patent Inventions, page 8
      • Each machine has on average 200 moulds, each mould contains 18 bobbins, and each bobbin, when first cottoned, 60 yards of wick, so that supposing all the frames of our seven machines to be fresh cottoned at the same time, we should have above 800 miles of wick in work.1852, George Fergusson Wilson, On the stearic candle manufacture, page 24
    2. (transitive) To fill with a wad of cotton.
      • First comes bottling, which is done both by machine and by hand. This is followed by cottoning and capping.1953, Manufacturing Series - Issues 211-224, page 33
      • Although cottoning is performed by hand, the hand-capping operation is assisted by a mechanical friction wheel, driven through a flexible cable.1962, Time and Motion Study - Volume 11, page 16
    3. (transitive) To wrap with a protective layer of cotton fabric.
      • When a tree is to be cottoned the ends from the cops are brought together and tied in a rough knot, which is hitched to a twig. Then, with the tube held upright, the operator walks round the tree as many times as may be necessary to cover it with lines of cotton, raising the metal tube about three...1937, Chambers's Journal, page 399
      • I went round and quietly cottoned all the nine holes, and next moring I found all the cottons intact.1953 June 25, F. Howard Lancum, “More Nights at a Badgers' Sett”, in Country Life, volume 113, page 2064
    4. (transitive) To cover walls with fabric.
      • The rooms downstairs were cottoned, the doors re-hung, and a counter put in the record office.1900, Sessional Papers (British Columbia), page 389
      • Robinson, W., Whitehorse: cottoning and papering 10 rooms, hall and staircase, at sergeant's mess, $206;1906, Sessional Papers - Volume 40, Issue 1, Part 2, page R-51
    5. (transitive, tar and cotton) To cover with cotton bolls over a layer of tar (analogous to tar and feather )
      • Tar and cotton him," said a student from the college, more facetiously, perhaps, more mercifully inclined. " Think, fellows, what a pretty bird he will be, with cotton for feathers ; — so downy."1864, Honor: Or The Slave-dealer's Daughter, page 151
      • The Southerners caught him ; and, as a natural consequence of his capture, he was, after a little preliminary cowhiding and railriding, tarred and cottoned; the soft and downy substance growing in the pod of the cotton plant being in the sunny South the substitute for 'the penal plumes' —as Sydney...1874, Belgravia - Volume 22, page 311
  2. (transitive) To raise a nap, providing with a soft, cottony texture.
    • The finishing operations consisted of shearing the nap from the cloth, and frizzing, or cottoning, the surface, by pressing with hot irons.1959, Historical Journal - Volume 7, page 42
    • When the cloth is thus shorn on one side, it is for the most part cottoned on the other side, which they call the wrong side ; but frizes are cottoned on the " right side", for cottoning makes them such.1968, Thomas Birch, The History of the Royal Society of London for Improving of Natural Knowledge from Its First Rise
  3. (transitive) To develop a porous, cottony texture.
    • At this moment he saw the plate cottoning, as he expressed it, to his young friend, Charles Freeland, who sat in the pew at his right. He watched to see what the young merchant would give ; and to his amazement, he saw the young man put in a fifty dollar note!1854, The Churchman's Monthly Magazine - Volume 1, page 148
    • Used at medium to thin consistency to avoid stringing or cottoning and to assure proper spreading characteristics.1971, Modern Packaging Encyclopedia, page 112
  4. (transitive) To give the appearance of being dotted with cotton balls.
    • A fair piece ahead, in answering signal cottoned the sky in rhythmic puffs.1970, Western Writers of America, Spurs West, page 111
    • Choppy waves cottoned the bay.1998, George P. Morrill, The Blake Streak: A Tale of War, Mutiny and Love, →ISBN, page 137
  5. (transitive) To enshroud with a layer of whiteness.
    • Fog cottoned the steep, wooded slopes on each side of the lake, and the air was chill and penetrating.1937, Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association, The Improvement Era - Volume 40, page 186
    • There was no evidence by Thursday of the snowfall that had thickly cottoned the Taunton area; the town and state plows had scraped the roads clean, and the only sight of snow remaining lay in the drifts and patches on the sheltered, wooded slopes northward.1956, Edwin Gilbert, Native Stone, page 316
  6. To protect from harsh stimuli, coddle, or muffle.
    • Jeanne's house, like Usher's, is a void of great silence and immobility and the "somnambulistic gardens" surrounding her house like Usher's tarn "cottoned the sound from the world."1971, Under the Sign of Pisces - Volumes 2-4, page 9
    • The violins were muted, the hands were gloved, carpets were unrolled forever under the feet, and the gardens cottoned the sound from the world.1976, John Tytell, Harold Jaffe, Affinities: A Short Story Anthology, →ISBN
  7. To rub or burnish with cotton.
    • To oppress one's own workmen, and provide for the workmen of a neighbor — to skin those in charge of one's own interests while cottoning and oiling the residuary product of another's skinnery — that is not very good benevolence, nor very good sense, but it serves in place of both.1912, Ambrose Bierce, The Collected Works of Ambrose Bierce, page 267
    • It was inclined to be scummy in developing, and the consequent vigorous 'cottoning' or rubbing with a swab of absorbent cotton while in the developing sink, which was necessary to open it up, often caused injury to the image.1934, The Penrose Annual: Review of the Graphic Arts

Verb (2)

cotton (third-person singular simple present cottons, present participle cottoning, simple past and past participle cottoned)

  1. To get on with someone or something; to have a good relationship with someone.
    • What meanes this? doth he dote so much of this strange harlot indeed? now I perceiue how this geare cottens.1629, Richard Bernard, “Andria”, in Terence in English, page 42
    • I want to tell you the Dukes, both mother and son, are cottoning to her fast enough.1873, Percy Hetherington Fitzgerald, “Notes of Gold?”, in All the Year Round, page 286

Noun (2)

cotton (plural not attested)

  1. (no plural) A liking.
    Synonyms:
    shine

Proper noun (1) capitalized: Cotton

Cotton

  1. A village and civil parish in Staffordshire Moorlands district, Staffordshire, England (OS grid ref SK0645).
  2. A village and civil parish in Mid Suffolk district, Suffolk, England (OS grid ref TM0767).
  3. An unincorporated community in Mitchell County, Georgia, United States.
  4. A township and unincorporated community therein, in Saint Louis County, Minnesota, United States.
  5. A habitational surname from Old English.

Proper noun (2) capitalized: Cotton

Cotton

  1. A surname from Hebrew.

cotton meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

cotton in Hindi

fiber
तूल tūl, कपास kapās, रूई rūī
any plant yielding fiber like that of Gossypium
कपास kapās, गुड guḍ, पम्बा pambā
fabric
कपास kapās, सूती sūtī

cotton in Tamil

fiber
பஞ்சு pañcu
any plant yielding fiber like that of Gossypium
கொட்டை koṭṭai, பருத்தி parutti, பஞ்சு pañcu, உத்தரி uttari
fabric
பருத்தி parutti
made of cotton
பருத்தி parutti, பருத்தியாலான paruttiyālāṉa

cotton in Marathi

fiber
कापूस kāpūs
any plant yielding fiber like that of Gossypium
कापूस kāpūs
fabric
कापूस kāpūs

cotton in Urdu

fiber
کَپاس kapās
any plant yielding fiber like that of Gossypium
کَپاس kapās, پَنْبَہ panba
fabric
کَپاس kapās
More languagesFewer languages
cotton in Bengali
তুলো tulō, তুলা tula, কার্পাস karpaś
cotton in Telugu
పత్తి patti, ప్రత్తి pratti
cotton in Malayalam
പഞ്ഞി paññi, പരുത്തി parutti
cotton in Kannada
ಹತ್ತಿ hatti
cotton in Punjabi
ਕਪਾਹ kapāh, ਫੰਬਾ phambā
cotton in Gujarati
રૂ rū, કપાસ kapās
cotton in Odia
କପା kapā
cotton in Sanskrit
कर्पास karpāsa
cotton in Sinhala
කපු kapu
cotton in Assamese
কপাহ kopah, তুলা tula
cotton in Nepali
कपास kapās, धोती dhotī
cotton in Pashto
پنبه ponba
cotton in Tagalog
bulak, algudon
cotton in Arabic
قُطْن quṭn, قُطُن quṭun, قطن ʔuṭn, قُطْنِي quṭnī
cotton in Malay
kapas
cotton in Indonesian
katun, kapas, kapuk
cotton in Persian
پَنْبِه panbe, پَخْتِه paxte, پِمِّه pemme
cotton in Thai
ต้นฝ้าย dtôn-fâai, ฝ้าย fâai, ผ้าฝ้าย pâa-fâai
cotton in Vietnamese
bông
cotton in Myanmar
ဝါဂွမ်း wagwam:, ဗိုင်း buing:, ကော်တွန် kau-twan, ပိတ် pit
Dhivehi
ކަފަ kafa
Dzongkha
སྤྲིན་བལ sprin bal

Examples of cotton in a sentence

  • When a tree is to be cottoned the ends from the cops are brought together and tied in a rough knot, which is hitched to a twig.1937, Chambers's Journal, page 399:
  • I planted out over 600 polyanthus plants, and almost without exception the sparrows had the new buds off — after I had both cottoned and sprayed with Jeyes.1965, Amateur Gardening - Volume 82, page 199:
  • Taylor said he reckoned the cost of cottoning at twelve and one-half cents per yard.1912, National Painters Magazine - Volume 39, page 657:
  • The final finishing processes—cottoning and rowing, or raising the nap with teasels and shearing it smooth again—were performed after the Drapers had carried the cloth to Shrewsbury.1953, Thomas Corwin Mendenhall, The Shrewsbury drapers and the Welsh wool trade in the XVI and XVII centuries:

All 40 example sentences with cotton

Synonyms of cotton

Forms of cotton

Noun
pluralcottons
Verb
third-person singular presentcottons
present participlecottoning
past participlecottoned
pastcottoned

Plural of cotton: cottons

Origin of cotton

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”).

Words formed from cotton

Phrases with cotton

81 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with cotton

Questions about cotton

What does cotton mean?
Cotton means a soft, fibrous, usually white substance consisting of fine hairs, especially the substance around the seeds of a plant of genus Gossypium.
What is cotton in Hindi?
Cotton in Hindi is तूल (tūl), कपास (kapās), रूई (rūī). See Cotton meaning in Hindi.
How do you use cotton in a sentence?
When a tree is to be cottoned the ends from the cops are brought together and tied in a rough knot, which is hitched to a twig.
What part of speech is cotton?
Cotton can be a noun, an adjective, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce cotton?
Cotton is pronounced /ˈkɒt.n̩/ (UK).
What is the plural of cotton?
The plural of cotton is cottons.

Words near cotton in the dictionary

  1. cottoids
  2. cottolene
  3. cottolin
  4. Cottom
  5. Cottoms
  6. cotton
  7. cotton and melon aphid
  8. cotton and melon aphids
  9. cotton aphid
  10. cotton aphids
  11. cotton ball

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: cotton (page history and authors); Cotton (page history and authors); කපු (Sinhala) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-cotton.wav.

Cite this entry: “cotton.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/cotton. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.