bottle

1
[ bot-l ]
See synonyms for bottle on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a portable container for holding liquids, characteristically having a neck and mouth and made of glass or plastic.

  2. the contents of such a container; as much as such a container contains: a bottle of wine.

  1. bottled cow's milk, milk formulas, or substitute mixtures given to infants instead of mother's milk: raised on the bottle.

  2. the bottle, intoxicating beverages; liquor: He became addicted to the bottle.

verb (used with object),bot·tled, bot·tling.
  1. to put into or seal in a bottle: to bottle grape juice.

  2. British. to preserve (fruit or vegetables) by heating to a sufficient temperature and then sealing in a jar.

Verb Phrases
  1. bottle up,

    • to repress, control, or restrain: He kept all of his anger bottled up inside him.

    • to enclose or entrap: Traffic was bottled up in the tunnel.

Idioms about bottle

  1. hit the bottle, Slang. to drink alcohol to excess often or habitually.

Origin of bottle

1
1325–75; Middle English botel<Anglo-French; Old French bo(u)teille<Medieval Latin butticula, equivalent to Late Latin butti(s) butt4 + -cula-cule1

Other words from bottle

  • bot·tle·like, adjective
  • well-bottled, adjective

Other definitions for bottle (2 of 2)

bottle2
[ bot-l ]

nounArchitecture.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use bottle in a sentence

  • He could go and live over in the Latin Quarter—that 's the desire of his heart—and think of nothing but old bottles.

    Confidence | Henry James
  • Fat-droplets are most frequently derived from unclean bottles or oiled catheters.

    A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis | James Campbell Todd
  • All stains and many reagents are best kept in small dropping bottles.

    A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis | James Campbell Todd
  • A hardened dealer once went near a large meeting of men with a wagon load of bottles containing cold tea.

  • I dont want him to be a doctor and have bottles in all his pockets and smell of medicine like father and Dr. Lake.

    Tessa Wadsworth's Discipline | Jennie M. Drinkwater

British Dictionary definitions for bottle (1 of 2)

bottle1

/ (ˈbɒtəl) /


noun
    • a vessel, often of glass and typically cylindrical with a narrow neck that can be closed with a cap or cork, for containing liquids

    • (as modifier): a bottle rack

  1. Also called: bottleful the amount such a vessel will hold

    • a container equipped with a teat that holds a baby's milk or other liquid; nursing bottle

    • the contents of such a container: the baby drank his bottle

  1. short for magnetic bottle

  2. British slang nerve; courage (esp in the phrase lose one's bottle)

  3. British slang money collected by street entertainers or buskers

  4. full bottle Australian slang well-informed and enthusiastic about something

  5. the bottle informal drinking of alcohol, esp to excess

verb(tr)
  1. to put or place (wine, beer, jam, etc) in a bottle or bottles

  2. to store (gas) in a portable container under pressure

  1. slang to injure by thrusting a broken bottle into (a person)

  2. British slang (of a busker) to collect money from the bystanders

Origin of bottle

1
C14: from Old French botaille, from Medieval Latin butticula literally: a little cask, from Late Latin buttis cask, butt 4

British Dictionary definitions for bottle (2 of 2)

bottle2

/ (ˈbɒtəl) /


noun
  1. dialect a bundle, esp of hay

Origin of bottle

2
C14: from Old French botel, from botte bundle, of Germanic origin

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Idioms and Phrases with bottle

bottle

In addition to the idiom beginning with bottle

  • bottle up

also see:

  • crack a bottle
  • hit the bottle

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.