Meaning

fibrous substance.

Definitions by Sense

1. fibrous substance
2. plant source
3. manufactured product of such substance
4. Made of cotton.
5. (transitive) To provide with cotton.
6. To make or become cotton-like
7. To protect from harsh stimuli, coddle, or muffle.
8. To rub or burnish with cotton.

Example Sentences

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.

Eyes closed, ears cottoned, the mind produces its own interior messages.

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."

The violins were muted, the hands were gloved, carpets were unrolled forever under the feet, and the gardens cottoned the sound from the world.

In the case of the whippingboys, however, the closeness of the relationship was often given a somewhat negative interpretation by the teachers — the parents were over-anxious, 'cottoned' the boy, were overprotective.

Indeed, pragmatism and technicism cottoned the American soul from some of the worst pains of an unmysterious world, although they would later be poor guardians against its encroachment.

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.

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.

Word Forms

• cottons
• cottoning
• cottoned

Synonyms for cotton

Related Words

When Should You Use Cotton?

Use cotton when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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