Толковый словарь английского языка Oxford English Reference - cotton

n. & v. --n. 1 a soft white fibrous substance covering the seeds of certain plants. 2 a (in full cotton plant) such a plant, esp. any of the genus Gossypium. b cotton-plants cultivated as a crop for the fibre or the seeds. 3 thread or cloth made from the fibre. 4 (attrib.) made of cotton. --v.intr. (foll. by to) be attracted by (a person). Phrases and idioms cotton-cake compressed cotton seed used as food for cattle. cotton candy US candyfloss. cotton-gin a machine for separating cotton from its seeds. cotton-grass any grasslike plant of the genus Eriophorum, with long white silky hairs. cotton on (often foll. by to) colloq. begin to understand. cotton-picking US sl. unpleasant, wretched. cotton waste refuse yarn used to clean machinery etc. cotton wool 1 esp. Brit. fluffy wadding of a kind orig. made from raw cotton. 2 US raw cotton. Derivatives cottony adj. Etymology: ME f. OF coton f. Arab. kutn