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Topic: Cotton

What's the story behind the verb cotton? We'll begin with the notion that the name of that noun (which gave the material for the verb) originated in Arabic. Now let's jump to the Middle Ages, when textile workers would literally apply friction to a material to get the nap of the material to rise. Between the late 15th through the late 16th centuries, this technique was known as cottoning a cloth. Some cloths, of course, cottoned particularly nicely, and that early sense gave rise (you should pardon the phrasing) to a once flourishing, now-obsolete application of the verb cotton: "succeed; go on prosperously; develop well."

Are you cottoning to the idea that the verb cotton is woven through the fabric of our language? It is indeed. Those early senses were soon followed by other, still current verb senses: the cotton meaning "to become attached to by or as if by personal liking" (as in "he cottoned to the new teacher") and "understand; perceive; tumble; come to understand" (as in "he cottoned onto the notion that the plan was doomed").

Questions or comments? Write us at wftw@aol.com Production and research support for Word for the Wise comes from Merriam-Webster, publisher of language reference books and Web sites including Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition.