cotton to
Britishverb
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to become friendly with
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to approve of
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Take a liking to, get along with, as in This dog doesn't cotton to strangers . Although this verbal phrase comes from the noun for the fabric, the semantic connection between these parts of speech is unclear. [Early 1800s]
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Also, cotton on to . Come to understand, grasp, as in She didn't really cotton on to what I was saying . [ Colloquial ; early 1900s]
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Willie Ingram picked everything from cotton to okra during his 51 years in the state penitentiary, better known as Angola.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 29, 2024
Meanwhile, the fashion industry is responsible for generating between 8-10% of global emissions, according to the United Nations, from growing cotton to using oil to create synthetic materials such as polyester.
From BBC ● Jun. 11, 2023
His grandfather left school after the third grade to pick cotton, and Scott frequently describes himself as an embodiment of the American dream by "going from cotton to Congress in one lifetime."
From Reuters ● May 19, 2023
He encouraged the peasantry to grow cotton during the winter months, when they were not growing food crops, and sold the cotton to Britain.
From Textbooks ● Dec. 14, 2022
“Why don’t you sell your cotton to the government?”
From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
