play up vs cotton up

play up and cotton up both are verbs.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
play up	No	No	Yes	No
cotton up	No	No	Yes	No

As verbs, play up and cotton up are synonyms defined as:

play up and cotton up: ingratiate oneself to; often with insincere behavior

Other synonyms of play up include cozy up, shine up, sidle up, suck up.

play up (verb)	cotton up (verb)
move into the foreground to make more visible or prominent	ingratiate oneself to; often with insincere behavior
ingratiate oneself to; often with insincere behavior