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Cotton
Definitions
- 1 Made of cotton. not-comparable
- 1 The name of several settlements around the world
- 2 A surname from Hebrew.
- 3 The name of several settlements around the world; A village and civil parish in Staffordshire Moorlands district, Staffordshire, England (OS grid ref SK0645).
- 4 A habitational surname from Old English.
- 1 fibrous substance; A soft, fibrous, usually white substance consisting of fine hairs, especially the substance around the seeds of a plant of genus Gossypium. uncountable, usually
- 2 A liking. no-plural
- 3 fabric woven from cotton fibers wordnet
- 4 fibrous substance; Any similar soft, fibrous, white substance of fine hairs, of any origin. uncountable, usually
- 5 thread made of cotton fibers wordnet
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- 6 plant source; A plant of genus Gossypium, used as a source of such fiber. uncountable, usually
"K'a-shih has the most extensive cotton-growing area which amounted to 950 000 mou (6.3 million ares) in 1965."
- 7 erect bushy mallow plant or small tree bearing bolls containing seeds with many long hairy fibers wordnet
- 8 plant source; Any plant that encases its seed in a thin fiber that is harvested and used as a fabric or cloth. uncountable, usually
- 9 soft silky fibers from cotton plants in their raw state wordnet
- 10 manufactured product of such substance; Textiles made from the fiber harvested from a cotton plant, especially Gossypium. uncountable, usually
"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."
- 11 manufactured product of such substance; An item of clothing made from such textiles. countable, usually
"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."
- 12 manufactured product of such substance; A small piece of cotton used as a filter when drawing up a drug into a syringe. uncountable, usually
"Do not re-use needles; use fresh cottons each time."
- 13 manufactured product of such substance; Thread of such fiber. uncountable, usually
- 14 manufactured product of such substance; A wick of a candle. archaic, uncountable, usually
- 1 To provide with cotton. transitive
"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."
- 2 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."
- 3 take a liking to wordnet
- 4 To provide with cotton.; To supply with a cotton wick. transitive
"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. 2, 3, and 4, where they are supported in a perpendicular position on the small straight edges or railway d, d, as seen at fig. 3."
- 5 To provide with cotton.; To fill with a wad of cotton. transitive
"First comes bottling, which is done both by machine and by hand. This is followed by cottoning and capping."
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- 6 To provide with cotton.; To wrap with a protective layer of cotton fabric. transitive
"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 feet after each round."
- 7 To provide with cotton.; To cover walls with fabric. transitive
"The rooms downstairs were cottoned, the doors re-hung, and a counter put in the record office."
- 8 To provide with cotton.; To cover with cotton bolls over a layer of tar (analogous to tar and feather ) transitive
"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.""
- 9 To make or become cotton-like; 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."
- 10 To make or become cotton-like; 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!"
- 11 To make or become cotton-like; To give the appearance of being dotted with cotton balls.
"A fair piece ahead, in answering signal cottoned the sky in rhythmic puffs."
- 12 To make or become cotton-like; 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."
- 13 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.""
- 14 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."
Etymology
From Middle English cotoun, from Anglo-Norman cotun, Old French coton, from (Genoese) Old Italian cotone, from Arabic قُطُن (quṭun).
From Middle English cotoun, from Anglo-Norman cotun, Old French coton, from (Genoese) Old Italian cotone, from Arabic قُطُن (quṭun).
From Middle English cotoun, from Anglo-Norman cotun, Old French coton, from (Genoese) Old Italian cotone, from Arabic قُطُن (quṭun).
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.
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”).
From Hebrew קָתָן (katan, “small”).
See also for "cotton"
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