cotton batting

noun

1. absorbent cotton pressed into pads or layers for use in dressing wounds, filling quilts, etc.

Word History and Origins

Origin of cotton batting¹

An Americanism dating back to 1820–30

Example Sentences

Heat rushed to my cheeks, and I considered sticking my head under a pile of cotton batting.

From Literature

After getting dropped off in Georgia’s Okefenokee Swamp, she writes: “There was no moon. The sky was like black cotton batting that enveloped us in a way that felt like walking through clear water in a pool painted black. ... We kept walking and walking, blindly in the dark, along the deserted road that we couldn’t see underfoot. There were no points of horizon, no beginning, no end to the highway.”

From Los Angeles Times

I climbed up, and the wild-haired old redhead inserted a tube through my cervix and stuffed cotton batting in my vagina to hold it in place.

From New York Times

These waxy, soft-bodied insects suck the liquid out of plants and leave white masses that look like rough cotton batting on foliage where they lay their eggs.

From Seattle Times

These waxy, soft-bodied insects suck the liquid out of plants and leave white masses that look like rough cotton batting on foliage where they lay their eggs.

From Washington Post