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Verb: cotton on
  1. Understand, usually after some initial difficulty
    "She didn't know what her classmates were plotting but finally cottoned on";
    - catch on, get wise, get onto, tumble, latch on, twig, get it

Derived forms: cottons on, cottoned on, cottoning on

Type of: apprehend, compass, comprehend, dig, get the picture, grasp, grok [N. Amer], savvy

Nearest

cotton bollworm
cotton cake
cotton candy
cotton fiber
cotton fibre
cotton flannel
cotton gin
cotton grass
cotton mill
cotton mouse
cotton on
cotton plant
cotton rat
cotton rose
cotton rush
cotton stainer
cotton strain
cotton thistle
cotton up
cotton wool
cottonmouth