cotton
noun /ˈkɒtn/
/ˈkɑːtn/
[uncountable]- a plant grown in warm countries for the soft white hairs around its seeds that are used to make cloth and thread
- From the age of six she worked in the fields, picking cotton.
- bales of cotton
- cotton fields/plantations/plants
CultureIn the nineteenth century the cotton industry made the north-west of England one of the richest areas in the world. The cotton arrived at the port of Liverpool, was made into clothes in factories in Lancashire, and the clothes could be sent to other countries from Liverpool. The new inventions of the Industrial Revolution meant that the Lancashire factories could produce cotton goods and sell them around the world at lower prices than local goods. In the twentieth century many other countries developed their own cotton industries, and most of the Lancashire factories closed.In the US, the production of cotton was much improved after Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin (= a machine for separating the seeds of a cotton plant from the cotton).The economy of the South was strongly based on cotton in the nineteenth century, and this led to the civil war because the cotton plantations (= large farms) kept slaves. When the boll weevil insects destroyed many cotton fields in the early twentieth century, Southern farmers began to grow other crops.Topics Farmingb1Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- 100%
- pure
- light
- …
- bale
- bolt
- grow
- pick
- plant
- …
- fibre/fiber
- thread
- yarn
- …
- the cloth made from the cotton plant
- The sheets are 100 per cent pure cotton.
- a cotton shirt/skirt
- printed cotton cloth
- the cotton industry
- a cotton mill
- a pure cotton T-shirt
- shivering in her thin cotton nightdress
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- 100%
- pure
- light
- …
- bale
- bolt
- grow
- pick
- plant
- …
- fibre/fiber
- thread
- yarn
- …
- (especially British English) thread that is used for sewing
- sewing cotton
- a cotton reel
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- 100%
- pure
- light
- …
- bale
- bolt
- grow
- pick
- plant
- …
- fibre/fiber
- thread
- yarn
- …
- (North American English)
enlarge image(US English also absorbent cotton)(British English cotton wool)a soft mass of white material that is used for cleaning the skin or a wound- Use a cotton ball to apply the lotion.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- 100%
- pure
- light
- …
- bale
- bolt
- grow
- pick
- plant
- …
- fibre/fiber
- thread
- yarn
- …
Word Originlate Middle English: from Old French coton, from Arabic quṭn.