cotton ball

American  

[kot-n bawl] / ˈkɒt n ˌbɔl /

noun

cotton balls plural

1. a small ball of absorbent cotton.

   The vet showed me how to clean Poco’s ears with a cotton ball soaked in this solution.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• cotton balls
  plural

Etymology

Origin of cotton ball

First recorded in 1750–55

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cotton ball

During arti, you stood in front of the gods and offered them light, clutching a silver plate holding ghee-drenched cotton ball flames and marigolds.

From Salon ● Jul. 16, 2022

The material in the connective tissue gives it a loose consistency similar to a cotton ball that has been pulled apart.

From Textbooks ● Jun. 9, 2022

And Gidget looks like a cotton ball with legs, But the rest of the pets aren’t rendered with such detail.

From Washington Post ● Jun. 5, 2019

But somehow the fragile insects, each weighing about as much as a cotton ball, travel to the spot where their ancestors mated and began their own journey, at that time headed north.

From Seattle Times ● Nov. 24, 2017

I sit down at the kitchen table and hum while I smear the thick pink polish all over the spoons with a cotton ball and watch it pull off the layer of black.

From "Amina's Voice" by Hena Khan