Forms: 3–5 cotoun, 4–6 coton, 5 cotone, -un(e, -ounn, -yn, kotyn, 6 cottonne, 6–7 cotten, 6– cotton. [ME. coton, cotoun, a. F. coton = Pr. coton, It. cotone, OSp. coton, Pg. cotão, a. Arab. qutn, qutun, in Sp. Arab. qoton. From the Arab. with prefixed article, alqoton, Sp. alcoton, algodon, comes ACTON, q.v.]
I. 1. The white fibrous substance, soft and downy like wool, which clothes the seeds of the cotton-plant (Gossypium); used (more extensively than any other material) for making cloth and thread, and for various purposes in the arts.
(An early use in Europe was for the padding of jerkins worn under mail, and the stuffing of cushions, mattresses, etc.)
[1300. Siege of Caerlaverock (1828), 72. Maint riche gamboison garni De soie et cadas et coton.
1381–2. Compotas Earl of Derby (Hen. IV) fol. 2 (MS.), 1 lb. fił de coton … 16 d.—6 lbs. coton, 4 s.]
c. 1400. Maundev. (1839), xix. 212. Theise men ben the beste worcheres of gold, Syluer, Cotoun, Sylk. Ibid. (Roxb.), xxxi. 142. Þare er treez þat berez cotoun.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 96. Cotune [1499 Pynson, coton], bombicinum.
1555. Eden, Decades, 5. Mattresses made of the cotton of the gossampine trees.
1598. Hakluyt, Voy., I. 93. Cloathes made of cotton or bombast.
1622. Wither, Philarete (1633), 629. He … Softer finds those beds of love, Then the Cotton ripest growne.
1747. Wesley, Prim. Physick (1762), 108. Apply a drop or two of oil of Cloves on Cotton.
1868. Rogers, Pol. Econ., xiv. (1876), 195. In 1860, about 621,000 tons of raw cotton were imported into the United Kingdom.
1869. Oliver, Elem. Bot., II. 151. The commercial value of Cotton depends upon the length and tenacity of these hair-cells.
† b. pl. Also phr. To tread on cottons: to go softly. Obs.
1615. G. Sandys, Trav., 137. Trees also here be that do bring forth cottens.
1627–77. Feltham, Resolves, I. xvi. 28. As for Man, it [the Gospel] teaches him to tread on Cottons, mild’s his wilder temper.
1638. L. Roberts, Merch. Map Commerce, 193. The commodities that this place at first affoorded … were … Aniseeds, Cottons, Galles.
† c. ? A piece of cotton-wool. Obs.
1610. Markham, Masterp., II. cxxix. 431. Other Farriers take of Gipsiacum the strongest kind, and lay it on the excression with a cotton.
† d. The fiber used for the wick of candles; a candle-wick. Obs.
[1290. Compotus Bolton Abbey, in T. D. Whitaker, Hist. Craven, 326. In sapo et Cotoun ad Candelam.]
1466. Mann. & Househ. Exp., 213. For makenge of candelle and for cotone to the same, xxiij. d.
1530. Palsgr., 209/1. Cotton for weke, cotton.
1598. Florio, Lucignoli … weekes or cottons of candles.
2. The cotton-plant; the genus Gossypium. Also, cotton-plants collectively, as a cultivated crop.
c. 1400. Maundev. (1839), xxviii. 288. In that contree … men putten in werke the sede of cotoun.
1562. Turner, Herbal, II. 12 b. Cotton is a small busshy herbe wyth a lefe lyke a vinde, but lesse.
1597. Gerarde, Herbal, II. cccxxxv. 900. The seed of Cotton is hot and moist.
a. 1668. Davenant, Plat. Lovers, Wks. (1673), 410/2. You shall to the Burmudos, Friend, and there plant Cotton.
1794. Martyn, Rousseau’s Bot., xxiv. 341. The exterior calyx in Cotton and Lavatera is trifid.
1858. R. Hogg, Veg. Kingdom, 105. Gossypium herbaceum, or Common Cotton, is the species which is most generally cultivated. Ibid., 106. G. arboreum is the Tree Cotton … a shrub growing from four to ten feet high.
3. Thread spun from cotton yarn, used for sewing garments and for weaving bobbin-net; also called sewing-cotton; in full cotton thread.
1848. A. Brontë, Ten. Wildfell Hall, ii. To pick up the ball of cotton, that had rolled under the table.
1877. Willcox & Gibbs’ Direct. for Sewing Machines, 13. Where 40 cotton would be used in hand sewing, use 60 or 70 cotton on the machine…. Soft finished black and coloured cottons will often break…. Use glacé cotton in place of linen thread.
1892. (Reel-label) Best six-cord 24 Sewing-machine Cotton, twopenny reel.
4. Cloth or other fabric made of cotton; in pl. cotton fabrics, also cotton clothes or garments.
See CALICO 2 b. (The first two quots. apparently belong here.)
14[?]. Metr. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 629. Bumbicinium, kotyn or pakclothe.
c. 1460. J. Russell, Bk. Nurture, 935. Looke þer be blanket, cotyn, or lynyn to wipe þe neþur ende.
1590. Webbe, Trav. (Arb.), 20. A shirt of Cotten and Breeches of the same.
a. 1616. Beaum. & Fl., Wit without Money, III. iv. Cloth of Silver turned into Spanish Cottens for a penance.
1797. Burke, Regic. Peace, iii. Wks. VIII. 389. Our woollens and cottons, it is true, are not all for the home market.
1822. J. Flint, Lett. fr. Amer., 21. The seamen … dressed in striped cottons.
1842. Bischoff, Woollen Manuf., II. 179. I think cotton is a more economical wear than woollen; the practice of wearing cotton has grown very much within the last six or seven years.
1887. ‘Mabel Wetheral,’ Two North-Country Maids, xxiv. 171. The blue cottons she mostly wore were washed out and rather skimped in the making.
† 5. The pile of fustian. Obs.
1495. Act 11 Hen. VII., c. 27. They strike and drawe the seid Irons over the seid Fustians unshorne, by meanes wherof they pull of both the noppe and the coton of the same Fustians. Ibid. And also they rayse vp the cotton of such Fustians, and then take a light candle and set in the Fustian burning, which sengeth and burneth away the cotton … downe to the hard threds, in stead of shering.
6. transf. A down resembling cotton growing on other plants.
1551. Turner, Herbal, I. (1568), I j b. The leues of centunculus haue both without [and within] a whyte wolle, or cottone.
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, I. xii. 20. Which [the flowers of Folefoote] do suddenly fade, and chaunge into downe, or cotton, which is carried away with the winde.
1657. W. Coles, Adam in Eden, xiv. 28. It [the Quince-Tree] beareth the Name of … Cotonea, as some think from the down, which groweth upon the Fruit, which is called Cotton.
1797. Bewick, Brit. Birds (1847), I. 146. The nest is … bound to the twigs with the cotton of plants.
1866. Treas. Bot., s.v. Ochroma, The cotton [of O. Lagopus] is used for stuffing pillows and cushions.
† b. Down or soft hair growing on the body. Obs. rare. [So F. coton = poil follet.]
1615. Crooke, Body of Man, 65. Pubes doeth more properly signifie the Downe or Cotton when it ariseth about those parts.
† c. attrib. Having (short) ‘cotton’ or soft hair. Obs.
1492. Ld. Treas. Acc. Scot., I. 202. Quhyte smal cotton lamskynnis to lyne this gowne.
7. With qualifying word prefixed: corkwood cotton, the silky down of Ochroma Lagopus (cf. SILK-COTTON); French cotton, the silky down of Calotropis procera; also the plant itself; mineral cotton, a metallic fiber, consisting of fine white threads, formed by sending a jet of steam through a stream of liquid slag as it runs from the furnace; Natal cotton, a textile material obtained from the pods of a species of Batatas; † petty cotton, an old name for Gnaphalium and allied plants; also called small cotton; † philosophic cotton, a name for zinc oxide, when obtained as a white flocculent powder by burning zinc; wild cotton, a name in Scotland for COTTON-GRASS. See also FLAX-COTTON, GUN-COTTON, LAVENDER COTTON, SILK-COTTON.
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, I. lxii. 90. Of Gnaphalion or Small Cotton … It may be called also Pety Cotton, or small Bombase: in French Petit Coton.
1753. Chambers, Cycl. Supp., Philosophic Cotton, a name given by some chemical writers to the flowers of zink, from their whiteness, and silky or cottony appearance.
1808. Jamieson, Wild Cotton, cotton-grass … Eriophorum polystachion, Linn.
II. Attrib. and Comb.
8. attrib. or adj. (without hyphen). Made of cotton: said of cloth, thread, garments, etc.; also in specific names of fabrics or materials, as cotton batting, damask, rep, russet, tick, wadding, etc.
1552. Huloet, Cotton clothe, xylinus pannus.
1653. H. Cogan, trans. Pinto’s Trav., ix. § 1. 27. Twenty pieces of Caracas, which are stained linnen, or Cotten Tapestry.
1697. Dampier, Voy. (1729), I. 384. The Cotton-cloth was to make Sail.
1752. Chambers, Cycl., s.v. Paper, From the XIIth century, cotton MSS. are more frequent than parchment ones.
1776. Adam Smith, W. N., IV. vii. (1869), II. 140. The muslins and other cotton goods of the East Indies.
1825. Sir J. Bowring, Autobiog. Recoll. (1877), 319. Her hair tangled, a common cotton gown on.
1868. Rogers, Pol. Econ., iii. (1876), 26. Pieces of cotton cloth answer the purpose of a currency in Eastern Africa.
1874. Knight, Dict. Mech., I. 636/2. Cotton thread for sewing is made by laying together two or more yarns of equal quality and twisting them.
1883. [see BATTING 2].
9. attrib. and general comb. (with or without hyphen). a. Of or relating to the growing plant or crop, as cotton bole, bush, crop, field, grove, pod, straw, etc.; cotton-planter; cotton-growing, -planting, -producing, etc., vbl. sbs. and adjs. Also COTTON-PICKER, -PICKING.
1890. J. G. Frazer, Gold. Bough, I. iii. 353. In the Punjaub … when the *cotton boles begin to burst.
a. 1693. Urquhart, Rabelais, III. li. 414. The Bombast and *Cotton Bushes.
1756. P. Browne, Jamaica (1789), 435. The caterpillars of these flies are frequently pernicious to the cotton-bushes.
1852. Mrs. Stowe, Uncle Tom’s C., II. xxxvi. 227. You ’ll lose your bet on the *cotton crop.
1861. L. L. Noble, Icebergs, 23. A few clouds, that might have floated away from the *cotton-fields of Alabama, kept Sunday in the quiet heavens.
1757. Dyer, Fleece, II. (1761), 110 (Jodrell). Who plant the *cotton-grove by Ganges stream.
1860. Sat. Rev., IX. 65/2. The *cotton growers of Louisiana.
1864. De Coin, Cotton & Tobacco, 68. The *cotton-growing states of America.
1840. Ann. Reg., 68. Several … gentlemen, brought up as *cotton-planters in the United States.
1890. in J. G. Frazer, Gold. Bough, I. ii. 353. Bhogla, a name sometimes given [in the Punjaub] to a large *cotton-pod.
1883. V. Stuart, Egypt, 66. Fields of green crops, or dourra stubble, or *cotton straw.
b. Of or relating to cotton as a commercial product or material, as cotton bale, -broker, -card, -dyer, factory, fuzz, -jenny, manufactory, manufacture, -manufacturer, -mule, -operative, -reel, trade, -weaving, -worker, -works, etc.; cotton-clad adj. Also COTTON-SPINNER, -SPINNING.
1852. Mrs. Stowe, Uncle Tom’s C., I. xiv. 208. Piled with *cotton-bales,… she [a steamboat] moves heavily onward.
1782. in Bancroft Hist. U.S. (1876), VI. lvii. 468. Wool-cards, *cotton-cards, and wire for making them.
1884. Pall Mall Gaz., 31 Dec., 1/2. The natives of the New Hebrides have been converted from naked cannibals into *cotton-clad Christians.
1859. Smiles, Self-Help, 32. James Hargreaves … was a poor weaver employed in a *cotton factory at Standhill.
1839. Carlyle, Chartism, viii. 165. Manchester, with its *cotton-fuzz, its smoke and dirt.
1835. Ure, Philos. Manuf., 175. The clove originally used by Hargreave in his *cotton-jenny.
1792. Gentl. Mag., LXII. II. 863. The establishment of *Cotton Manufactories.
1886. Morley, W. R. Greg, Crit. Misc. III. 235. The wonderful machinery of the *cotton manufacture.
1783. Specif. Brotherston’s Patent No. 1357. 1. Peter Brotherston, of Pennycuick, *Cotton Manufacturer.
1856. Emerson, Eng. Traits, Ability, Wks. (Bohn), II. 41. The *cotton-mule of Roberts.
1863. Fawcett, Pol. Econ., II. iv. (1876), 154. The skill of a *cotton-operative.
1865. Tylor, Early Hist. Man., vi. 113. A wooden brick or a *cotton-reel.
1825. W. Cobbett, Rur. Rides (1885), II. 108. To make the Irish *cotton-workers, would infallibly make them happy.
1862. T. Guthrie, Pract. Sympathy (1863), 23. The suffering cotton-workers are not guilty.
1806. Forsyth, Beauties Scotl., IV. 352. Several *cotton-works have been attempted but have not been successful.
10. Special comb.: cotton-backed a. (of velvet and other fabrics), having a back or web of cotton; cotton-bagging, a coarse wrapping material used for baling cotton-wool (Simmonds, Dict. Trade Prod.); cotton-bond (see quot.); cotton-cake, a mass of compressed cotton seed from which the oil has been extracted, used (like linseed cake) for feeding cattle; † cotton candle, a candle with a cotton wick (see CANDLE sb. 1); cotton-chopper (see quot.); cotton-cleaner, a machine for cleaning cotton by the operations of scutching, blowing, etc.; cotton-elevator, a tube through which cotton is carried to the upper stories of a cotton-mill by means of an air-blast or spiked straps; cotton famine, the failure of the supply of cotton to English mills which was caused by the blockade of the Southern ports during the American Civil War; cotton flannel, a strong cotton fabric with a long plush nap, also called cotton plush and Canton flannel; cotton-floater (see quot.); cotton-fly (see quot.); cotton gin, a machine for freeing cotton-wool from the seeds; cotton-mill, a factory where cotton is spun or woven by steam or water power; cotton-mouth, a venomous snake of the southern U.S., a species of the copperhead, so called from having a white streak along the lips; cotton-opener, a machine for loosening and blowing cotton after its transport in compressed bales; cotton paper, paper made from cotton; † cotton-pencil, a pencil or brush made of cotton; cotton plush = cotton flannel (above); cotton-powder, an explosive prepared from gun-cotton; cotton-press, a machine (or warehouse) for pressing cotton into bales; cotton print, cotton cloth printed with a design in colors; so cotton-printer, -printing; cotton-rat, a rodent (Sigmodon hispidus) common in southern U.S.; cotton-rib, a kind of fustian, or corduroy; cotton-rock (see quot.); cotton-rose, a name for the plant-genus Filago; cotton-rush, -sedge = COTTON-GRASS; cotton shrub, a shrub of the genus Gossypium; cotton-stainer, a heteropterous insect, Dysdercus suturellus, which gives a reddish stain to cotton; cotton State, any one of the cotton-growing States of the American Union; cotton-tail, the common rabbit of the United States (Lepus sylvaticus), which has a white fluffy tail; cotton-tie, a combination of iron hoop and buckle used for the tying of cotton bales; cotton-topper, a machine for pruning the growing cotton-plants; cotton velvet, a cotton fabric made with a pile like velvet; a kind of fustian; cotton waste, refuse yarn from the manufacture of cotton, used for cleaning machinery and other purposes; cotton-wick, candle-wick made of cotton; hence cotton-wicked a.; cotton-worm, the larva of an insect (Aletia xylina) very destructive to the cotton-crops of America; cotton yarn, cotton prepared for weaving into fabrics.
1881. Mary A. Lewis, Two Pretty Girls, III. 214. Beatrix in the glories of white *cotton-backed satin.
1891. Daily News, 24 Sept., 5/4. No one, however, objects to the various velveteen ladies … in cotton-backed velvet gowns.
1806. Forsyth, Beauties Scotl., IV. 352. A considerable quantity of… *cotton-bagging is annually made for exportation.
1865. Morning Star, 6 Feb. What do you mean by *Cotton Bonds? Witness: Certificates of the Confederate Government representing say twenty bales of cotton worth so much money.
1891. Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc., Ser. III. II. 837. Undecorticated *cotton-cakes.
1587. Fleming, Contn. Holinshed, III. 1376/2. One pound of *cotton candels.
1606. Wily Beguiled, Prol., in Hazl., Dodsley, IX. 221. Why, noble Cerberus, nothing but … cotton-candle eloquence?
1874. Knight, Dict. Mech., *Cotton-chopper, an implement which is drawn over a drilled row of cotton-plants, and chops gaps in the row so as to leave the plants in bunches or hills.
1863. Morning Star, 1 Jan., 6. The rapid extension of distress in the manufacturing districts of the North through what is justly called ‘the *cotton famine.’
1890. Art Interchange (N. Y.), 20 Dec., 210/2. The beautifully coloured *cotton flannels, now called cotton plush in the shops, have a soft satiny appearance.
1858. Simmonds, Dict. Trade, *Cotton-floaters, an India-rubber envelope or casing, in which bales of cotton are floated down some of the American rivers.
1756. P. Browne, Jamaica (1789), 435. Bruchus … The *Cotton-Fly. This little insect is chiefly of a scarlet colour…. The caterpillars of these flies are frequently pernicious to the cotton-bushes.
1796. (May 12) U. S. Patent to H. Holmes for a *cotton gin.
1832. Mech. Mag., XVII. 430. Memoir of Eli Whitney, the inventor of the Cotton Gin.
1857. Livingstone, Trav., xi. 204. The soil on all the flat parts is a rich dark tenacious loam, known as the *‘cotton-ground’ in India.
1791. Gentl. Mag., LXI. II. 1054. About three in the morning, W. Kirk’s *Cotton-mills at Barnford … were destroyed by fire.
1835. Baines, Cotton Manuf., 206. Ropes made of cotton-mill waste.
1859. Smiles, Self-Help, 31. A cotton-mill was first erected at Nottingham, driven by horses; and another … at Cromford in Derbyshire, turned by a water-wheel.
1860. Bartlett, Dict. Amer., *Cotton-mouth, a poisonous snake of Arkansas.
1885. C. F. Holder, Marvels Anim. Life, 129. The copperhead … is also known as the cotton-mouth, moccasin and red-eye in the South.
1752. Chambers, Cycl., s.v. Paper, *Cotton Paper, charta bombycina … has been in use upwards of 600 years.
1837–9. Hallam, Hist. Lit., i. I. (1855), I. 59. [Letters] of the time of Edwd. I. written upon genuine cotton paper of no great thickness.
1874. Deutsch, Rem., 407. Their material is vellum or cotton-paper.
1658. W. Sanderson, Graphice, 79. They were rubbed-in with small *Cotten-pensills.
1871. Tyndall, Fragm. Sc. (1879), I. x. 322. The *cotton-powder yielded a very effective report.
1888. Wardell, Handbk. Gunpowder, 84. Tonite, or cotton powder, consists of gun-cotton thoroughly purified, mixed or impregnated with nitrates, usually nitrate of barium.
1866. Harvard Mem. Biog., I. 385. To take charge of building and running a *cotton-press in Memphis, Tennessee.
1837. Marryat, Dog-fiend, xl. Shrouding herself … in her *cotton print cloak, she followed him.
1858. Simmonds, Dict. Trade, *Cotton-printer, a machine-printer, who stamps and dyes cotton fabrics.
1827. Westm. Rev., VII. 284. *Cotton-printing, paper-staining.
1824. E. Baines, Hist. Lanc., I. iv. 114. The fustian made in this early period of the manufacture were denominated herring-bone … strong *cotton-ribs, and barragon … to which were afterwards added cotton thicksetts.
1856. Swallow, Geol. Missouri (Bartlett). *Cotton Rock, a variety of Magnesian limestone, of a light buff or gray color, found in Missouri. It is very soft when fresh from the quarry.
1826. Carrington, Dartmoor, Pref. 8. The tall reed and the glossy plumes of the *cotton rush nod in the breeze.
1869. Oliver, Elem. Bot., II. 272. Common *Cotton Sedge.
1752. Chambers, Cycl., s.v. Paper, [The paper] made by the Chinese from their *cotton-shrub.
1848. Chambers’ Inform. for People, I. 340. The cotton shrub grows in almost every country where the annual herbaceous cotton is found.
1883. W. Saunders, Insects Injur. Fruits, 387. Dysdercus suturellus … is commonly known as the red-bug, or *cotton-stainer.
1858. W. L. Yancey, in Cradle of Confed., 393. If we … organize ‘committees of safety’ all over the *cotton States … we shall fire the Southern heart.
1891. M. Townsend, U.S., 66. Alabama is called the Cotton State because it is the central State of the Cotton Belt.
1879. E. S. Bridges, Round the World in 6 Months, 25. Some *cotton-tails, (rabbits).
1885. Birge Harrison, in Harper’s Mag., May, 828/2. A cotton-tail rabbit rose as we halted.
1888. Star, 21 July, 4/2. The *‘cotton-ties’ from its world-renowned forges.
1777. Specif. S. Dolignon’s Patent No. 1175. 1. Colouring the whole or part of the surface of … silk or *cotton velvet.
1795. J. Aikin, Country round Manch., 159. About the time when draw-boys were first made, cotton velvets were attempted.
1824. E. Baines, Hist. Lanc., I. 548. *Cotton waste dealers.
1854. Mrs. Gaskell, North & S., xxxviii. I might as well put a firebrand into the midst of the cotton-waste.
1678. R. R[ussell], trans. Geber, II. I. IV. v. 94. Putting a little *Cotton-Weik into the hole.
1692. Capt. Smith’s Seaman’s Gram., II. xxxi. 149. Dip Cotton-Week into Gun powder wet with water.
1707. G. Miége, St. Gt. Brit., II. 31. *Cotton-Wick’d Candle.
1870. Riley, Missouri Rep. Insects, 37. The *Cotton-worm (Anomis xylina Say) is very generally known by the name of ‘the Cotton Army-worm,’ in the South.
1704. Lond. Gaz., No. 3983/4. The Cargo of the Ship Hamstead Galley … consisting of … *Cotton yarn, Cotton-wooll.
1824. E. Baines, Hist. Lanc., I. 548. Cotton-yarn dealers.
