cotton

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The Word of the Day for November 23 is:=20

cotton   \KAH-tun\   verb
         *1 : to take a liking -- used with to=20
     2 : to come to understand -- used with to or on to

Example sentence:
          It took fans a while to cotton to the changes in the champions=
hip series, but they now love the new play-off format.

Did you know?
     The noun =E2=80=9Ccotton=E2=80=9D first appeared in English around =
700 years ago. It comes, via Anglo-French and Old Italian, from the Arab=
ic word for cotton, =E2=80=9Cqutun=E2=80=9D or =E2=80=9Cqutn.=E2=80=9D I=
n the 15th century, =E2=80=9Ccotton=E2=80=9D acquired a verb use meaning=
 =E2=80=9Cto form a nap on (cloth).=E2=80=9D Though this verb sense is n=
ow obsolete, our modern-day use might have spun from it. In 1822, Englis=
h philologist Robert Nares reported that =E2=80=9Ccotton=E2=80=9D had be=
en used to mean =E2=80=9Cto succeed=E2=80=9D and speculated that this us=
e came from =E2=80=9Cthe finishing of cloth, which when it cottons, or r=
ises to a regular nap, is nearly or quite complete.=E2=80=9D The meaning=
 of =E2=80=9Ccotton=E2=80=9D shifted from =E2=80=9Cto get on well=E2=80=9D=
 to =E2=80=9Cto get on well together,=E2=80=9D and eventually to the sen=
se we know today, =E2=80=9Cto take to.=E2=80=9D The =E2=80=9Cunderstand=E2=
=80=9D sense appeared later, in the early 20th century.





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