Definition of "cottonwood" [cot•ton•wood]

• Any of several North American poplar trees, especially Populus deltoides, which has triangular leaves and a tuft of cottony hairs on the seeds. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Dry inner bark from a cottonwood is tje best tinder."
• "For it is a "cottonwood" -- a species not found elsewhere upon the same plain; its seed no doubt transported thither by some straying bird."
• "This cottonwood, which is now in fruit, is of a different species from any in"