cotton on

British  

verb

1. to perceive the meaning (of)

2. to make use (of)

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Example Sentences

The precocious girls soon cotton on to the headmistress’s ruse and parry her appeals to dish on Miss Brodie.

From The Wall Street Journal

Men ferry bales of cotton on forklifts, and automated equipment cleans the cotton and transforms it into spun yarns that can be made into fabric.

From New York Times

He said the U.K. should perhaps have “cottoned on” to a national lockdown being a possibility in the early days of the pandemic, but added that “there were no good options.”

From Washington Times

Dressing up your avatar is a big part of the Roblox platform, and some of the biggest brands in the world have cottoned on to the potentially lucrative partnerships this can spawn.

From BBC

Small tomato plants sprouted in tidy rows on one side of the road and pima cotton on the other.

From Los Angeles Times