cotton on

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cotton on (third-person singular simple present cottons on, present participle cottoning on, simple past and past participle cottoned on)

1. (intransitive) To realize; come to understand.

   Synonyms: catch on, glom on

   • 2019 July 30, Rowena Mason, “Dominic Cummings said Tory MPs do not care about poor people or NHS”, in The Guardian‎:

     “That is what most people in the country have thought about the Tory party for decades. […] Tory MPs largely do not care about these poorer people. They don’t care about the NHS. And the public has kind of cottoned on to that.”

   • 2023 July 9, Annie Lowrey, “Open Your Mind to Unicorn Meat”, in The Atlantic‎:

     In the late aughts, a number of entrepreneurs cottoned on to the idea of reducing emissions by producing fake meat that carnivores could love.

• cotton to
• cotton on to

• Michael Quinion (1996–2024) “Cotton on”, in World Wide Words.