cotton to

English

Etymology

According to Michael Quinion of World Wide Words, "It has plausibly been suggested it came from the use of mixtures of cotton and other fibres in clothing. In the early 1800s, to cotton to somebody implied that you were drawn or attached to that person. It may be that the idea here is how well a thread of cotton sticks to the surface of cloth."

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Verb

cotton to (third-person singular simple present cottons to, present participle cottoning to, simple past and past participle cottoned to)

1. (idiomatic) To like; approve of, accept, or tolerate.
   • 1858, Andrew Halliday, Frederick Lawrence, Kenilworth:

     Her heart's as hard as taxes, and as bad; / She does not even cotton to her dad.

See also

• cotton on

Further reading

• Michael Quinion (1996–2024) “Cotton to”, in World Wide Words.