See Also: cotton(dictionary)
cotton(2)(dictionary)
cotton(1)(dictionary)
Cotton rat(health)
cotton gin(encyclopedia)
cotton(encyclopedia)
cotton bud(dictionary)
Cotton(medicine)
cotton gin(dictionary)
cotton 2, verb(dictionary)

cotton(2) (iou)



cotton noun1 & adjective. LME.
[Old & mod. French coton from Arab. &kdbelow;un, &kdbelow;uun, Hispano-Arab. &kdbelow;uun: cf. ACTON.]
A. noun.
The soft white fibrous substance which surrounds the seeds of various plants of the tropical and subtropical genus Gossypium, used for making thread and cloth. LME.
b. A similar substance found in other plants. M16.
(In full cotton-plant) a plant of the genus Gossypium, of the mallow family, that yields cotton or is cultivated for cotton; such plants collectively, as a crop. LME.
a. Cloth or fabric made from cotton; a cotton fabric or garment (usu. in pl.). LME.
b. Thread spun from cotton yarn. M19.
The pile of fustian. Only in L15.
Phrases etc.: absorbent cotton: see ABSORBENT adjective. French cotton the floss surrounding the seeds of the mudar, Calotropis procera. gun-cotton: see GUN noun. lavender cotton: see LAVENDER noun2. NANKEEN cotton. silk cotton: see SILK noun & adjective. spit cotton US colloq. spit white saliva; have a mouth parched by thirst; fig. be very angry. Upland cotton: see UPLAND adjective.
Comb.: cotton batting N. Amer. cotton wool; cotton belt the cotton-producing region of the southern US; cotton-boll weevil = boll-weevil s.v. BOLL noun1; cotton-bush (a) a cotton-plant; (b) Austral. any of several low downy drought-resistant shrubs, esp. Bassia aphylla; cotton cake a mass of compressed cotton-seed used as cattle feed; cotton candy N. Amer. candyfloss; cotton famine Hist. the failure of the supply of cotton to the English cotton-mills during the American Civil War; cotton-fish Austral. = cotton-spinner (b) below; cotton flannel a strong cotton fabric with a raised nap; cotton gin a machine for separating cotton fibre from the seed; cotton-grass a sedge of the genus Eriophorum, the fruiting heads of which bear long white cottony hairs; esp. (more fully common cotton-grass) E. angustifolium, characteristic of wet bogs, and (more fully hare's-tail cotton-grass) E. vaginatum, common in damp moorland; cotton-leaf worm the larva of a moth, Alabama argillacea, which feeds on the leaves of the cotton-plant in America; cotton lord a wealthy manufacturer of cotton yarn or goods; cotton-mouth (moccasin) = water moccasin s.v. MOCCASIN 2; cotton-picking noun & adjective (a) noun the harvesting of cotton; US a social gathering to mark this occasion; (b) adjective (N. Amer. slang) unpleasant, damned, confounded; cotton-plant: see sense 2 above; cotton plush = cotton flannel above; cotton-powder an explosive made from gun-cotton; cotton-rat a rodent, Sigmodon hispidus, common in the southern US; cotton-sedge = cotton-grass above; cotton-seed the seed of the cotton-plant, from which an edible oil is obtained; cotton-spinner (a) a worker who spins cotton; a cotton-manufacturer; (b) Austral. a sea-cucumber of the genus Holothuria, which shoots out long white threads (Cuvierian organs) when disturbed; cotton-stainer an insect of the heteropteran genus Dysdercus, esp. D. suturellus, which feeds on cotton bolls and stains the fibre reddish; cotton state any of the States of the southern US of which cotton is or was a major product; spec. (with cap. initials) Alabama; cottontail a rabbit of the N. American genus Sylvilagus, most species of which have a white fluffy underside to the tail; cotton-thistle a tall white-felted thistle, Onopordum acanthium, often grown in gardens; Scotch thistle; cotton-top (in full cotton-top tamarin) a brown and cream tamarin, Saguinus oedipus, of northern Colombia, with a crest of white hair; cotton tree (a) any of various tropical trees (of the genera Bombax and Ceiba) producing a cottony floss; (b) dial. the wayfaring-tree, Viburnum lantana; (c) the N. American plane, Platanus occidentalis; (d) = cottonwood (a) below; (e) either of two Australian trees, Hibiscus tiliaceus and Cochlospermum heteronemum; cotton waste waste cotton yarn, used to clean machinery etc.; cottonweed any of several related plants of the composite family with hoary pubescent stems and leaves, esp. Otanthus maritimus of maritime sands in southern and western Europe; cottonwood (a) any of various N. American poplars with cottony hairs surrounding the seeds; (b) a downy-leaved Australian shrub of the composite family, Bedfordia salicina; (c) NZ = TAUHINU; cotton-worm = cotton-leaf worm above. See also COTTON WOOL.
b. attrib. or as adjective. Made of cotton. M16.
cottonize verb trans. reduce (flax, hemp, etc.) to a short staple resembling cotton M19.
cottony adjective resembling cotton; consisting of or covered with soft hairs like cotton (
cottony-cushion scale, an Australian scale insect, Icerya purchasi, which infests citrus trees): L16.