cotton wool


noun
  1. cotton in its raw state, as on the boll or gathered but unprocessed.

  2. British. absorbent cotton.

Origin of cotton wool

1
First recorded in 1590–1600

Words 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

  • 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

cotton wool

noun
  1. 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

  2. cotton in the natural state

  1. 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