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cotton mill

cotton mill

2 3.4
A factory where workers make cloth from cotton
  • noun
  • /ˈkɑtən mɪl/
translation icon : fábrica de algodón
  • When I worked in the cotton mill, they put me to lifting boxes in the stockroom, and I hurt my side.
  • cotton mill in South Carolina

Thousands of people full in employment then in the, in the, the cotton mills.

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Examples

  • Tereshkova's widowed mother raised her and her two siblings on wages earned in a cotton mill.

    Blog text (22)
  • By contrast, the law played an important role in the decline of child labor in the cotton mills of Manchester.

    Academic text (2001)
  • The view of the ruins of the old cotton mill was fantastic.

    Blog text (10)
  • Today, all I could see was the superhighway they cut through above the cotton mill.

    Fiction book (1991)
  • Beyond the school, they passed the cotton mill with its chain-link fence around the warehouse and front office.

    Fiction book (1999)
  • In late 1849, Manchester was a thriving textile center fueled by the success of the cotton mills.

    Blog text (15)
  • The new I-195 extension will be the greatest boon since Colonel Durfee opened his first cotton mill at Globe Corners in 1811.

    Fiction book (2000)
  • The family wound up in North Carolina, where her parents found blue-collar jobs at a cotton mill.

  • My mama didn't get off work at the cotton mill until long after my bedtime.

  • At 13, the kid from Scotland worked in a cotton mill earning $1.20 per week.

Synonyms

mill
vscotton mill
171 2.3

A building where things are made or raw materials are processed

specializes in turning a plant fiber into woven cloth
textile mill
vscotton mill
4 3.3

A factory that makes cloth and other fabrics on a large scale

focuses on a single natural fiber and weaving into finished cloth

How Big

textile mill
4 3.3
cotton mill
2 3.4
workshop
61 2.3

Surface Forms

cotton mill singular
cotton mills plural

Morphology

cotton + mill

The meaning 'a factory where cotton is processed' is directly and compositionally derived from combining 'cotton' (the raw material) with 'mill' (a facility for processing materials). This straightforward noun–noun compound follows common cross-linguistic patterns (e.g., 'fábrica de algodón', 'filature de coton') and would be understandable to a B1 learner who knows both words.

Etymology

Cotton mill comes from the simple image of a large mill full of machines that turn raw cotton into thread and cloth. That's why cotton mill means 'a factory where cotton is processed and woven into cloth'.