1cotton onphrasal verbphr v informalUNDERSTANDto begin to understand something 开始明白,领会 → realize
It took me a while to cotton on.
我过了一会儿才明白过来。
to
Sarah soon cottoned on to what he was trying to do.
萨拉马上明白了他想干什么。
2cotton to somebody/somethingphrasal verbphr vAmerican EnglishAmE informalLIKE somebody OR somethingto begin to like a person, idea etc 开始喜欢SYN take to
I didn’t cotton to her at first, but she’s really nice.
我一开始并不喜欢她,但是她真的很好。
Origincotton1
(1300-1400)Old Frenchcoton, from Arabicqutn
cotton2
(1800-1900)cotton“to be successful”((16-19 centuries)), perhaps from cotton (of cloth) “to form a soft surface”((15-19 centuries)), from → COTTON1