cotton on

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English[edit]

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Etymology[edit]

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Verb[edit]

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

  1. (intransitive) To realize; come to understand.
    Synonyms: catch on, glom on
    • 2019 July 30, Rowena Mason, “Dominic Cummings said Tory MPs do not care about poor people or NHS”, in The Guardian‎[1]:
      “That is what most people in the country have thought about the Tory party for decades. […] Tory MPs largely do not care about these poorer people. They don’t care about the NHS. And the public has kind of cottoned on to that.”
    • 2023 July 9, Annie Lowrey, “Open Your Mind to Unicorn Meat”, in The Atlantic‎[2]:
      In the late aughts, a number of entrepreneurs cottoned on to the idea of reducing emissions by producing fake meat that carnivores could love.

Related terms[edit]

Further reading[edit]

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