ˌcotton-ˈwool, cotton wool, n.
1. a. Cotton in its raw and woolly state, as gathered from the bolls of the plant; raw cotton.
| 1600 Hakluyt Voy. (1810) III. 544 In this Countrey is great store of Cotten wooll, whereof the Indians make fine linnen cloth. 1653 H. Cogan tr. Pinto's Trav. lv. 215 They apparel themselves with Stuffs made of Silk and Cotten-wool. 1704 Lond. Gaz. No. 3983/4 The Cargo..consisting of..Cotton-yarn, Cotton-wooll, &c. 1813 Vansittart (in Examiner 5 Apr. 217/2) The Import of Cotton Wool from the United States. 1868 Rogers Pol. Econ. ii. (1876) 11 In a country like India the same person grows, gathers, cleanses and spins the cotton-wool. |
† b. pl. Obs.
| 1638 L. Roberts Merch. Map Commerce 118 The commodities that are found here..are cotton woolls..wax, cotton and grogram yarne. |
2. a. The same substance as prepared for wadding, quilting, packing fragile articles, etc.
| 1857 Quinland I. i. i. 23 He found a large silver cup, which had been carefully packed away in cotton-wool. 1870 Emerson Soc. & Solit. iv. 65, I know no remedy against it but cotton-wool, or the wax which Ulysses stuffed into the ears of his sailors. 1875 T. W. Higginson Hist. U.S. x. 79 A coat thickly quilted with cotton-wool. 1884 Harper's Mag. Oct. 522/2 They are..boxed in cotton-wool. |
b. fig. to be or live in cotton-wool. Also to keep or wrap in cotton-wool.
| 1869 Miss Mulock Woman's Kingd. II. 45 Letty would never be happy unless she lived in clover and cotton-wool. 1889 S. A. Barnett Let. 13 Apr. in H. Barnett Canon S.A.B. (1918) II. xxxix. 140 She is still very weak and has to be wrapped in cotton-wool. 1890 J. Payn Burnt Million II. xxix. 230 To be in cotton-wool is a phrase significant of superfluous comfort. c 1890 [see wrap v. 2 a]. 1955 M. Gilbert Sky High v. 71 We couldn't keep him in cotton wool. |
3. attrib. and Comb. a. Of, pertaining to, or made from cotton-wool; also, resembling cotton-wool in appearance, etc.
| 1648 in Conn. Public Rec. I. 488 Linnen yearne and Cotton wool yearne. 1860 Sat. Rev. IX. 65/2 An increase of competition in the cotton-wool market. 1870 Tyndall Fragm. Sc. xi. (1871) 334 A cotton-wool respirator. 1907 Daily Chron. 10 Oct. 5/1 A cotton-wool mist descended. 1936 Punch 4 Mar. 273/1 The manufacture of cotton-wool snow. 1955 A. Ross Australia 55 ix. 116 Wisps of faint, cotton-wool cloud. |
b. fig. Protected as if by cotton-wool; timid, etc.
| 1909 Westm. Gaz. 29 Sept. 4/3 The faction of the Press that would make cotton-wool motorists of us all. 1937 Daily Express 3 Mar. 21/2 Cotton-wool batsmen who are afraid of fast bowling. 1953 X. Fielding Stronghold iv. v. 301 A professor protected by the cotton-wool surroundings of a Common Room. |
Hence cotton-wool v. (nonce-wd.), to stuff or close (the ears) with cotton-wool.
| 1857 Motley Corr. 3 May, Cotton-wooling your ears absolutely to all hand-clapping and greasy mob applause. |