cottonpickin'
or cot·ton-pick·in'
[ kot-n-pik-uhn ]
adjectiveSlang: Sometimes Offensive.
damned; confounded (used as an intensifier): That's a cottonpickin' lie.
Origin of cottonpickin'
1- Also cot·ton·pick·ing, cot·ton-pick·ing [kot-n-pik-uhn, -pik-ing]. /ˈkɒt nˌpɪk ən, -ˌpɪk ɪŋ/.
usage note For cottonpickin'
Cottonpickin' is most commonly perceived as a Southern regionalism and an older informal expression in American English. However, because there is no clear sense-related reason to invoke the picking of cotton, and because the expression is used as a negative modifier, many people assume it is a reference to slavery or sharecropping. Knowing that this term can evoke a racial connotation associated with chattel slavery, some speakers actively avoid or replace cottonpickin' with a similar euphemism like doggone, and it has become far less frequent since its peak usage in the 1960s.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use cottonpickin' in a sentence
If they want better pay for their labor, why didn't they strike in the midst of the cotton-picking?
An Arkansas Planter | Opie Percival ReadFinally, in September, when the busy season of cotton picking was at hand, I was unable to leave my cabin.
Twelve Years a Slave | Solomon NorthupIt is left in this condition until after cotton-picking is over, whether earlier or later.
Twelve Years a Slave | Solomon NorthupIt is usual, also, in the most hurrying time of cotton-picking, to require the same extra service.
Twelve Years a Slave | Solomon NorthupAlston had been on the plantation a few weeks when, toward the last of September, the cotton-picking season opened.
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