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a plant grown in warm countries for the soft white hairs around its seeds that are used to make cloth and thread 棉，棉花（植株） From the age of six she worked in the fields, picking cotton. 从六岁起，她就在地里干活，摘棉花。 bales of cotton 大包的棉花 cotton fields/plantations/plants 棉田/种植园/植物
CultureIn the nineteenth century the cotton industry made the north-west of England one of the richest areas in the world. The cotton arrived at the port of Liverpool, was made into clothes in factories in Lancashire, and the clothes could be sent to other countries from Liverpool. The new inventions of the Industrial Revolution meant that the Lancashire factories could produce cotton goods and sell them around the world at lower prices than local goods. In the twentieth century many other countries developed their own cotton industries, and most of the Lancashire factories closed.In the US, the production of cotton was much improved after Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin (= a machine for separating the seeds of a cotton plant from the cotton).The economy of the South was strongly based on cotton in the nineteenth century, and this led to the civil war because the cotton plantations (= large farms) kept slaves. When the boll weevil insects destroyed many cotton fields in the early twentieth century, Southern farmers began to grow other crops.Topics Farmingb1Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- 100%
- pure
- light
- …
- bale
- bolt
- grow
- pick
- plant
- …
- fibre/fiber
- thread
- yarn
- …
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the cloth made from the cotton plant 棉织物；棉布 The sheets are 100 per cent pure cotton. 这些床单是100%纯棉的。 a cotton shirt/skirt 棉布衬衫／裙子 printed cotton cloth 印花棉布 the cotton industry 棉纺织业 a cotton mill 棉纺厂 a pure cotton T-shirt 纯棉 T 恤 shivering in her thin cotton nightdress 她穿着薄薄的棉质睡袍，浑身发抖
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- 100%
- pure
- light
- …
- bale
- bolt
- grow
- pick
- plant
- …
- fibre/fiber
- thread
- yarn
- …
- (especially British English)
thread that is used for sewing 棉线；棉纱 
sewing cotton 缝纫用棉线 a cotton reel 棉线轴
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- 100%
- pure
- light
- …
- bale
- bolt
- grow
- pick
- plant
- …
- fibre/fiber
- thread
- yarn
- …
- (North American English) (US English also absorbent cotton)(British English cotton wool)
a soft mass of white material that is used for cleaning the skin or a wound 药棉；脱脂棉 Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- 100%
- pure
- light
- …
- bale
- bolt
- grow
- pick
- plant
- …
- fibre/fiber
- thread
- yarn
- …
Word Originlate Middle English: from Old French coton, from Arabic quṭn.