"cotton on to" meaning in English

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "cottons on to",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cottoning on to",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cottoned on to",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cottoned on to",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "cotton on to (third-person singular simple present cottons on to, present participle cottoning on to, simple past and past participle cottoned on to)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "51 49",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "48 52",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English phrasal verbs with particle (on)",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "48 52",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English phrasal verbs with particle (to)",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2019 March 13, Drachinifel, 26:59 from the start, in The Russian 2nd Pacific Squadron - Voyage of the Damned, archived from the original on 2023-01-29",
          "text": "Buuut the Kamchatka eventually showed up, with news: whilst the main fleet had almost triggered a war with the British Empire, she'd managed to outdo them all, by reporting that, not only had she fired three hundred shells in an engagement with three Japanese ships, but, in fact, had shot at a Swedish merchantman, a German trawler, and a French schooner, putting the Russians at odds with almost every other major European fleet in existence. Fortunately, everyone else seemed to cotton on to the truly-appalling level of captaincy on the Kamchatka, and those incidents were quietly dropped. This was coupled with the fact that Kamchatka's truly-appalling levels of gunnery prevented it from having started several new wars, by not actually hitting anything.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To come to know or understand (something)."
      ],
      "id": "en-cotton_on_to-en-verb-~bu7R041",
      "links": [
        [
          "know",
          "know"
        ],
        [
          "understand",
          "understand"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(slang) To come to know or understand (something)."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "slang"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "51 49",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "48 52",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English phrasal verbs with particle (on)",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "48 52",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English phrasal verbs with particle (to)",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Synonym of cotton to (“like, tolerate”)"
      ],
      "id": "en-cotton_on_to-en-verb-E0fntVm7",
      "links": [
        [
          "cotton to",
          "cotton to#English"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(slang, archaic) Synonym of cotton to (“like, tolerate”)"
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "extra": "like, tolerate",
          "tags": [
            "synonym",
            "synonym-of"
          ],
          "word": "cotton to"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "39 61",
          "word": "cotton onto"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "archaic",
        "slang"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "cotton on to"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English phrasal verbs",
    "English phrasal verbs with particle (on)",
    "English phrasal verbs with particle (to)",
    "English verbs"
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "cottons on to",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cottoning on to",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cottoned on to",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cottoned on to",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "cotton on to (third-person singular simple present cottons on to, present participle cottoning on to, simple past and past participle cottoned on to)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English slang",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2019 March 13, Drachinifel, 26:59 from the start, in The Russian 2nd Pacific Squadron - Voyage of the Damned, archived from the original on 2023-01-29",
          "text": "Buuut the Kamchatka eventually showed up, with news: whilst the main fleet had almost triggered a war with the British Empire, she'd managed to outdo them all, by reporting that, not only had she fired three hundred shells in an engagement with three Japanese ships, but, in fact, had shot at a Swedish merchantman, a German trawler, and a French schooner, putting the Russians at odds with almost every other major European fleet in existence. Fortunately, everyone else seemed to cotton on to the truly-appalling level of captaincy on the Kamchatka, and those incidents were quietly dropped. This was coupled with the fact that Kamchatka's truly-appalling levels of gunnery prevented it from having started several new wars, by not actually hitting anything.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To come to know or understand (something)."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "know",
          "know"
        ],
        [
          "understand",
          "understand"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(slang) To come to know or understand (something)."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "slang"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English slang",
        "English terms with archaic senses"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Synonym of cotton to (“like, tolerate”)"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "cotton to",
          "cotton to#English"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(slang, archaic) Synonym of cotton to (“like, tolerate”)"
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "extra": "like, tolerate",
          "tags": [
            "synonym",
            "synonym-of"
          ],
          "word": "cotton to"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "archaic",
        "slang"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "cotton onto"
    }
  ],
  "word": "cotton on to"
}