Dictionary.com
definitions

cottonwood

[kot-n-woo d]
|

noun

any of several American poplars, as Populus deltoides, having toothed, triangular leaves and cottonlike tufts on the seeds.

Origin of cottonwood

An Americanism dating back to 1795–1805; cotton + wood1
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for cottonwood

Contemporary Examples of cottonwood

Historical Examples of cottonwood

  • Why not put it just at the foot of the ridge, at Cottonwood Spring?

    Rim o' the World

    B. M. Bower

  • Thirty years will do for a cottonwood what two centuries will do for an oak.

    Trail's End

    George W. Ogden

  • One of his hands was caught in a bear trap fastened to a cottonwood.

    Crooked Trails and Straight

    William MacLeod Raine

  • Then it was that the cottonwood skiffs betrayed their weaknesses.

    Lewis and Clark

    William R. Lighton

  • You stay here,' he says; 'you set there under the cottonwood.'

British Dictionary definitions for cottonwood

cottonwood

noun

any of several North American poplars, esp Populus deltoides, whose seeds are covered with cottony hairs
Also called: tauhinu a native New Zealand shrub, Cassinia leptophylla, with daisy-like flowers
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012