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.
"Orena", 40, from France, said she deliberately chose to make her outfit – Haku from Studios Ghibli’s animated movie "Spirited Away" – from linen and cotton to keep cool.
From Barron's ● Aug. 1, 2026
Mr Scott is the grandson of a cotton field worker and the son of a single mother, and he has often spoken of how his family rose "from cotton to Congress" in a lifetime.
From BBC ● May 31, 2023
He is fond of saying his family went “from cotton to Congress in one lifetime.”
From New York Times ● May 22, 2023
“Our family went from cotton to Congress in one lifetime,” Scott said as a featured speaker of the 2020 Republican National Convention.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 4, 2022
Now I knew he didn’t have cotton to sell, but he looked like one of those travelers that was selling something.
From "Life Is So Good" by George Dawson
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.
