: a smooth normally white fibrous material composed of the hairs bordering the seeds of various erect freely branching tropical crops (genus Gossypium were used to signify "to thrive" and speculated this use came from "the ending of cloth, which when it cottons, or rises to a daily nap, https://kameronbivls.pages10.com/linters-cotton-meaning-breakdown-by-capol-papermart-71472518