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noun
mass noun1British Fluffy wadding of a kind originally made from raw cotton, used for cleaning the skin or bathing wounds.
North American term absorbent cotton- ‘To get make-up to last for several hours, apply foundation and use a puff or clean cotton wool pad to press powder in.’
- ‘Wash your eye with tepid water, using a clean piece of cotton wool or gauze for each wipe.’
- ‘At the bottom of each well, was a petri dish containing cotton wool that would receive the experimental odors; each petri dish had a hole pierced in its lid to allow odors to permeate into the air above.’
- ‘Wash the wound thoroughly then apply three times daily with a clean cotton wool ball.’
- ‘I walked over and took the bottle and cotton wool out of her hand.’
- ‘Specimens were immobilized in a quartz cell with some cotton wool.’
- ‘The nurse rubbed her arm with a piece of cotton wool.’
- ‘She pressed a ball of cotton wool against the puncture site.’
- ‘I found some cotton wool in my bag and put some cold water on it then touched my face gently.’
- ‘Play with different textures - have a box of different fabrics, such as towelling, velvet, cotton wool, a clean feather and so on.’
- ‘The mated female laid an egg sac about 35 days later, and this was removed and placed in a separate sterile plastic container that was closed with cotton wool.’
- ‘Betty gave him cardboard boxes and cotton wool but always told him that when the bird was well, he would have to let it go.’
- ‘The sudden transition made me feel lethargic, as if I was walking through cotton wool or wading through water up to my neck.’
- ‘Remove the eye shadow by gently wiping it off with a pad of clean cotton wool moistened with eye-cleansing lotion.’
- ‘Experimental subcolonies used in the small supercolony pairings were housed using nesting chambers consisting of test tubes half filled with water and plugged with cotton wool.’
- ‘Spiders were briefly anesthetized by using a piece of cotton wool impregnated with three drops of ether, and placed on an adjustable mounting stand.’
- ‘I have placed cotton wool on either side of it to hold it snugly in place.’
- ‘Five infested plants (20 caterpillars in 10 cages on 10 leaves in total) with moist cotton wool were used as odor source.’
- ‘One contains a piece of gold padded with cotton wool.’
- ‘When the wings were dry the moths were glued ventrally to tiny oval-shaped balls made of cotton wool.’
2US Raw cotton.
Phrases
wrap someone in cotton wool
Be overprotective towards someone.
‘wrapping ourselves in cotton wool could turn us into a bunch of scaredy cats’- ‘But don't get the idea that I wrap him up in cotton wool.’
- ‘‘I can honestly thank my parents for not wrapping me in cotton wool,’ he says.’
- ‘As you may be able to tell, I would wrap her in cotton wool if I could!’
- ‘She said he was quite small but very robust and she has to resist the temptation to wrap him in cotton wool.’
- ‘Boys will be boys and you can't wrap them in cotton wool.’
- ‘How can they even enjoy being kids if we wrap them in cotton wool all the time?’
- ‘The worst thing that can be done to these young people is to wrap them in cotton wool.’
- ‘I didn't get an explanation why I was taken off but maybe they're wrapping me in cotton wool for next week.’
- ‘You should be educating your children, not wrapping them in cotton wool.’
- ‘I often wonder whether I'm doing right by my children, whether their independence is at risk because I'm wrapping them in cotton wool.’
pamper, spoil, overindulge, coddle, mollycoddle, cosset, nanny, nursemaid, mother, baby, pet, spoon-feed, feather-bed, wrap in cotton wool, overparentView synonyms
