cottoned on to

Verb

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

1. (slang) To come to know or understand (something).
   • Buuut the Kamchatka eventually showed up, with news: whilst the main fleet had almost triggered a war with the British Empire, she'd managed to outdo them all, by reporting that, not only had she fired three hundred shells in an engagement with three Japanese ships, but, in fact, had shot at a...2019 March 13, Drachinifel, 26:59 from the start, in The Russian 2nd Pacific Squadron - Voyage of the Damned, archived from the original on 29 Jan 2023
2. (archaic, slang) Synonym of cotton to (“like, tolerate”).

   Synonyms:

   cotton to