Cotton - Word of the Day

[Merriam-Webster]( WORD OF THE DAY [November 9, 2017](#none) cotton [Audio pronunciation]( verb | KAH-tun Definition 1 : to take a liking — used with to 2 : to come to understand — used with to or on to Scroll down for more about cotton WORD GAMES AND QUIZZES: WEEKLY CHALLENGE [October 2017 Words of the Day Quiz]( The October quiz in November. Spooky! [PLAY NOW]( Nailed this quiz? We have plenty more to try! [TAKE ME THERE [>]]( Plus: [SEE WHAT LOOKUPS ARE TRENDING NOW! [>]]( Did You Know? The noun cotton first appears in English in the late Middle Ages. It comes, via Anglo-French and Old Italian, from the Arabic word for cotton, quá¹­un or quá¹­n. In the 15th century, cotton acquired a verb use meaning "to form a nap on (cloth)." Though this verb sense is now obsolete, our modern-day use might have spun from it. In 1822, English philologist Robert Nares reported that cotton had been used to mean "to succeed" and speculated that this use came from "the finishing of cloth, which when it cottons, or rises to a regular nap, is nearly or quite complete." The meaning of cotton shifted from "to get on well" to "to get on well together," and eventually to the sense we know today, "to take a liking to." The "understand" sense appeared later, in the early 20th century. Examples of COTTON "He was so much fun to have in the company. He had that warm, inviting voice. Audiences just cottoned to him." — Gary Gisselman, quoted in The Star Tribune (Minneapolis, Minnesota), 3 Mar. 2016 "This exhibition—like many of [Jim] Henson's shows—is mainly for adults, concerned with the craft of puppetry and the expansion of broadcast media…. Henson, born in Greenville, Miss., in 1936, had an early gift for landscape drawing, but he cottoned on quickly to the potentials of a new medium—and to the branding opportunities that the medium would allow." — Jason Farago, The New York Times, 21 July 2017 Name That Synonym What 6-letter verb beginning with "t" is a synonym of cotton, meaning "to come to understand," and also means "to fall suddenly and helplessly"? [VIEW THE ANSWER [>]]( WORDS AT PLAY Words for When You're Not Holding Back Sometimes you have to go all in. [CHECK 'EM OUT [>]]( MORE WORD FUN: [WORD GAMES [>]]( [TRENDING NOW [>]]( [WORDS AT PLAY [>]]( FOLLOW US: [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [YouTube]( [Instagram]( [Pinterest]( SHARE: [Facebook][Facebook]( [Twitter][Twitter]( [View this email in a web browser]( You are receiving this email because you opted in to receive the Merriam-Webster Word of the Day. [Unsubscribe from Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day]( [Manage your subscription settings]( Merriam-Webster, Inc. 47 Federal Street P.O. Box 281 Springfield, MA 01102 [www.merriam-webster.com](