cotton on

verb

1. to perceive the meaning (of)
2. to make use (of)

Example Sentences

Racist text messages are targeting Black Americans across the country, telling them they've been selected to be enslaved and forced to pick cotton on a plantation.

From Salon

Did they cotton on to the fact that Trump was advocating depriving all Virginia public and private K-12 schools, nursery schools, child care centers and home schools of federal funding?

From Los Angeles Times

Men ferry bales of cotton on forklifts, and automated equipment cleans the cotton and transforms it into spun yarns that can be made into fabric.

From New York Times

He said the U.K. should perhaps have “cottoned on” to a national lockdown being a possibility in the early days of the pandemic, but added that “there were no good options.”

From Washington Times

Dressing up your avatar is a big part of the Roblox platform, and some of the biggest brands in the world have cottoned on to the potentially lucrative partnerships this can spawn.

From BBC