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cottonon (third-person singular simple presentcottons on,present participlecottoning on,simple past and past participlecottoned on)

1. (intransitive) Torealize;come tounderstand.

   Synonyms:catch on,glom on

   • 2019 July 30, Rowena Mason, “Dominic Cummings said Tory MPs do not care about poor people or NHS”, inThe 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 ofcottoned on to that.”

   • 2023 July 9, Annie Lowrey, “Open Your Mind to Unicorn Meat”, inThe Atlantic‎^[2]:

     In the late aughts, a number of entrepreneurscottoned on to the idea of reducing emissions by producing fake meat that carnivores could love.

• cotton to
• cotton on to

• Michael Quinion (1996–2026), “Cotton on”, inWorld Wide Words.

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