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Glite Dictionary
cottonwood

cottonwood

15 5.1
A large North American tree with soft wood and seeds with cottony hairs
  • noun
  • /ˈkɒtənˌwʊd/
  • US
translation icon : álamo
  • We were led beyond the parade grounds to a cluster of cottonwood trees hunched together like old men.
  • cottonwood trees
  • cottonwoods and willows
  • Cottonwood (Populus)

You imagine a single airborne Cottonwood seed blowing across the length of your life.

Examples

  • Reduction or elimination of natural floods has created serious problems for native cottonwood forests in the Salt River Valley.

    Academic text (2004)

  • Lo and behold, cottonwoods, aspen, and willows started to sprout up in places where there hadn't been trees before.

    Druid Peak (2014)

  • Only the bright yellow leaves of the cottonwood trees reminded her that it was autumn.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • I hear the cottonwoods whispering above

    The Big Lebowski (1998)

  • Main Street was a quiet tunnel of cottonwoods, the weekly newspaper a mass of rural social notes.

    Academic text (1998)

  • We hid out in the wilderness down by a river... in a grove of cottonwoods.

    Badlands (1974)

  • Early snows had stripped the nearby aspens and cottonwoods of their leaves.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • Green reeds, silvery shrubs, and small cottonwoods banked this meager stream.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • We entered a small slot canyon with a stream and cottonwood trees offering shade.

  • A short ride beyond Northside Park is a small lake lined with cottonwoods and cattails.

Compounds

black cottonwood
  • US
1 6.3

A tall poplar tree with large round leaves and dark bark that grows in North America

Eastern cottonwood
  • US
6.1

A large fast-growing tree with broad leaves that often grows along rivers

swamp cottonwood
  • Specialized
7.9

A tall tree with large round leaves that grows in wet places

Surface Forms

cottonwood singular
cottonwoods plural

Morphology

cottonwood = cotton + wood (transparent) = cotton + wood

The compound directly names a tree associated with cotton-like seeds or soft wood, so the meaning follows straightforwardly from 'cotton' + 'wood'.

Etymology

Cottonwood comes from the two English words cotton and wood. People named the tree this because its seeds have fluffy, 'cotton-like' hairs and because its trunk gives 'soft wood'. So, a cottonwood is a tree known for its cottony seeds and soft wood.