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• Cotton Belt
  Cotton Belt

  noun

  the part of the southern U.S. where cotton is grown, originally Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi, but now often extended to include parts of Texas and California.
• cotton belt
  cotton belt

  noun

  a belt of land in the southeastern US that specializes in the production of cotton

Cotton Belt

American  

noun

1. (sometimes lowercase) the part of the southern U.S. where cotton is grown, originally Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi, but now often extended to include parts of Texas and California.

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cotton belt British  

noun

1. a belt of land in the southeastern US that specializes in the production of cotton

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Etymology

Origin of Cotton Belt

An Americanism dating back to 1870–75

Example Sentences

In many of the areas of the Cotton Belt, slaves were the majority of the population.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 27, 2025

By 1915, they had spread across the Cotton Belt and wreaked havoc on the crop, leaving families destitute during the Great Depression.

From Washington Post • Oct. 7, 2022

Amid a vast migration during the early 20th century, tens of thousands of black people came to California’s farm country from far-off states in the Cotton Belt and the Dust Bowl.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 24, 2019

Former Cotton Belt Railroad employee Ray Stevenson was born in 1961, just a toddler as segregation was ending for the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

From Washington Times • Feb. 18, 2018

The Cotton Belt Route southwest of St. Louis runs the "Squealer Special" to prove to the Arkansas and Panhandle farmers the money-making advantages of blooded hogs over the razor-back variety.

From Business English A Practice Book by Buhlig, Rose