cotton

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. Any of various shrubby plants of the genus Gossypium, having showy flowers and grown for the soft white downy fibers surrounding oil-rich seeds.
2. n. The fiber of any of these plants, used in making textiles and other products.
3. n. Thread or cloth manufactured from the fiber of these plants.
4. n. The crop of these plants.
5. n. Any of various soft downy substances produced by other plants, as on the seeds of a cottonwood.
6. v. 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.
7. v. Informal To come to understand. Often used with to or onto: "The German bosses . . . never cottoned to such changes” ( N.R. Kleinfield).

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. The white fibrous substance clothing the seeds of the cotton-plant (Gossypium). See cut under cotton-plant. It consists of simple delicate tubular hair-like cells, flattened and somewhat twisted. Its commercial value depends upon the length and tenacity of the fiber. It is the clothing material of a large proportion of the human race, its use dating back to a very early period. In commercial importance cotton exceeds all other staples. Great Britain ranks first in the consumption of the raw material, the United States being second, and then France. Cotton consists of nearly pure cellulose, and when acted upon by nitric acid yields a nitro-compound known as guncotton, which is a powerful explosive, and when dissolved in ether and alcohol forms collodion. Cotton is very extensively used in the manufacture of thread, and for many purposes in the arts. In surgery it is employed for many purposes, and especially as a dressing for burns, scalds, etc. See cotton-plant, Gossypium.
2. n. Cloth made of cotton. It was originally obtained in Europe from India, always famous for the excellence and fineness of its cotton fabrics, as in the Dacca muslins, and has long been in use throughout the East. In 1700 the importation into England was prohibited, and in 1721 fines were imposed upon the venders and wearers of cotton, because it was thought to interfere with the home manufacture of woolens and linens. Modern inventions facilitating its manufacture by machinery have built up an immense industry in Europe and the United States. See cotton-gin, spinning-jenny.
3. n. Thread made of cotton: as, a spool of cotton contains 200 yards.
4. n. The wick of a candle.
5. n. The cotton-plant; cotton-plants collectively.
6. Made of cotton; consisting of cotton: as, cotton cloth.
7. To rise with a nap, like cotton.
8. To envelop in cotton; hence, to coddle; make much of.
9. To agree; suit; fit or go well together.
10. To become closely or intimately associated (with); acquire a strong liking (for); take (to): absolutely or with to, formerly with.
11. n. Same as Kafir *cotton.
12. n. See cotton-weed, 3.
13. n. Same as Natal *cotton .

Wiktionary

1. n. A plant that encases its seed in a thin fiber that is harvested and used as a fabric or cloth.
2. n. A type of plant used as a source of cotton fiber.
3. n. textiles The textile made from the fiber harvested from the cotton plant.
4. n. An item of clothing made from cotton.
5. adj. Made of cotton.
6. v. To get on with someone or something; to have a good relationship with someone.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. A soft, downy substance, resembling fine wool, consisting of the unicellular twisted hairs which grow on the seeds of the cotton plant. Long-staple cotton has a fiber sometimes almost two inches long; short-staple, from two thirds of an inch to an inch and a half.
2. n. The cotton plant. See Cotten plant, below.
3. n. Cloth made of cotton.
4. v. obsolete To rise with a regular nap, as cloth does.
5. v. obsolete To go on prosperously; to succeed.
6. v. colloq. To unite; to agree; to make friends; -- usually followed by with.
7. v. Slang To take a liking to; to stick to one as cotton; -- used with to.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. fabric woven from cotton fibers
2. v. take a liking to
3. n. soft silky fibers from cotton plants in their raw state
4. n. erect bushy mallow plant or small tree bearing bolls containing seeds with many long hairy fibers
5. n. thread made of cotton fibers