cotton wool
cotton in its raw state, as on the boll or gathered but unprocessed.
British. absorbent cotton.
Origin of cotton wool
1Words Nearby cotton wool
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use cotton wool in a sentence
I put some cotton wool in my mouth and came up with a voice when I was on a train with my brother.
Then rub a little charcoal powder over the pricked pattern with a wad of soft cotton-wool.
Harper's Young People, November 30, 1880 | VariousBut I would never leave you alone among the relics in their cotton-wool, little Great One.
Fifty Contemporary One-Act Plays | VariousEach egg appeared to be larger than a large hogs-head, and was partly embedded in bales of cotton-wool.
In Search of the Unknown | Robert W. ChambersThe planter's wife sat over against him, on the other side of the passage, carding home-grown cotton wool with hand cards.
Duffels | Edward Eggleston
The heavy clouds had nestled down the mountains, covering them like a huge thickness of wet cotton-wool.
The Isle of Unrest | Henry Seton Merriman
British Dictionary definitions for cotton wool
Also called: purified cotton mainly British bleached and sterilized cotton from which the gross impurities, such as the seeds and waxy matter, have been removed: used for surgical dressings, tampons, etc: Usual US term: absorbent cotton
cotton in the natural state
British informal
a state of pampered comfort and protection
(as modifier): a cotton-wool existence
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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