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bottom - 13 dictionary results

bot⋅tom

  [bot-uhm]
Use bottom in a Sentence
–noun
1. the lowest or deepest part of anything, as distinguished from the top: the bottom of a hill; the bottom of a page.
2. the under or lower side; underside: the bottom of a typewriter.
3. the ground under any body of water: the bottom of the sea.
4. Usually, bottoms. Also called bottom land. Physical Geography. low alluvial land next to a river.
5. Nautical.
a. the part of a hull between the bilges, including the keel.
b. the part of a hull that is immersed at all times.
c. the cargo space in a vessel.
d. a cargo vessel.
6. the seat of a chair.
7. Informal. the buttocks; rump.
8. the fundamental part; basic aspect.
9. bottoms, (used with a plural verb) the trousers of a pair of pajamas.
10. the working part of a plow, comprising the plowshare, landside, and moldboard.
11. the cause; origin; basis: Try getting to the bottom of the problem.
12. Baseball.
a. the second half of an inning.
b. the last three players in the batting order.
13. lowest limit, esp. of dignity, status, or rank: When people sink that low, they're bound to reach the bottom soon.
14. Usually, bottoms. Chemistry. the heaviest, least volatile fraction of petroleum, left behind in distillation after more volatile fractions are driven off.
–verb (used with object)
15. to furnish with a bottom.
16. to base or found (usually fol. by on or upon).
17. to discover the full meaning of (something); fathom.
18. to bring (a submarine) to rest on the ocean floor: They had to bottom the sub until the enemy cruisers had passed by.
–verb (used without object)
19. to be based; rest.
20. to strike against the bottom or end; reach the bottom.
21. (of an automotive vehicle) to sink vertically, as when bouncing after passing over a bump, so that the suspension reaches the lower limit of its motion: The car bottomed too easily on the bumpy road.
–adjective
22. of or pertaining to the bottom or a bottom.
23. located on or at the bottom: I want the bottom book in the stack.
24. lowest: bottom prices.
25. living near or on the bottom: A flounder is a bottom fish.
26. fundamental: the bottom cause.
—Verb phrase
27. bottom out, to reach the lowest state or level: The declining securities market finally bottomed out and began to rise.
—Idioms
28. at bottom, in reality; fundamentally: They knew at bottom that they were only deceiving themselves. Also, at the bottom.
29. bet one's bottom dollar,
a. to wager the last of one's money or resources.
b. to be positive or assured: You can bet your bottom dollar that something will prevent us from leaving on time.
30. bottoms up, (used interjectionally to urge the downing of one's drink).
Origin:
bef. 1000; ME botme, OE botm; akin to ON botn, D bodem, G Boden, L fundus, Gk pythmn, Skt budhná

Synonyms:
1. base, foot. 8, 11. foundation, groundwork.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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bot·tom   (bŏt'əm)   
n.  
  1. The deepest or lowest part: the bottom of a well; the bottom of the page.
  2. The part closest to a reference point: was positioned at the bottom of the key for a rebound.
  3. The underside: scraped the bottom of the car on a rock.
  4. The supporting part; the base.
  5. The far end or part: at the bottom of the bed.
    1. The last place, as on a list.
    2. The lowest or least favorable position: started at the bottom of the corporate hierarchy.
    3. Nautical The part of a ship's hull below the water line.
    4. A ship; a boat: "English merchants did much of their overseas trade in foreign bottoms" (G.M. Trevelyan).
  7. The basic underlying quality; the source: Let's get to the bottom of the problem.
  8. The solid surface under a body of water.
  9. Low-lying alluvial land adjacent to a river. Often used in the plural. Also called bottomland.
    1. Nautical The part of a ship's hull below the water line.
    2. A ship; a boat: "English merchants did much of their overseas trade in foreign bottoms" (G.M. Trevelyan).
  11. The trousers or short pants of pajamas. Often used in the plural.
  12. Informal The buttocks.
  13. The seat of a chair.
  14. Baseball The second or last half of an inning.
  15. Staying power; stamina. Used of a horse.
v.   bot·tomed, bot·tom·ing, bot·toms

v.   tr.
  1. To provide with an underside.
  2. To provide with a foundation.
  3. To get to the bottom of; fathom.
v.   intr.
  1. To be or become based or grounded.
  2. To rest on or touch the bottom.
Phrasal Verb(s):
bottom outTo descend to the lowest point possible, after which only a rise may occur: Sales of personal computers have bottomed out.

Idiom(s):
at bottomBasically.

[Middle English botme, from Old English botm.]
bot'tom·er n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Bottom

Bot"tom\ (b[o^]t"t[u^]m), n. [OE. botum, botme, AS. botm; akin to OS. bodom, D. bodem, OHG. podam, G. boden, Icel. botn, Sw. botten, Dan. bund (for budn), L. fundus (for fudnus), Gr. pyqmh`n (for fyqmh`n), Skr. budhna (for bhudhna), and Ir. bonn sole of the foot, W. bon stem, base. [root]257. Cf. 4th Found, Fund, n.]

1. The lowest part of anything; the foot; as, the bottom of a tree or well; the bottom of a hill, a lane, or a page.

Or dive into the bottom of the deep. --Shak.

2. The part of anything which is beneath the contents and supports them, as the part of a chair on which a person sits, the circular base or lower head of a cask or tub, or the plank floor of a ship's hold; the under surface.

Barrels with the bottom knocked out. --Macaulay.

No two chairs were alike; such high backs and low backs and leather bottoms and worsted bottoms. --W. Irving.

3. That upon which anything rests or is founded, in a literal or a figurative sense; foundation; groundwork.

4. The bed of a body of water, as of a river, lake, sea.

5. The fundament; the buttocks.

6. An abyss. [Obs.] --Dryden.

7. Low land formed by alluvial deposits along a river; low-lying ground; a dale; a valley. "The bottoms and the high grounds." --Stoddard.

8. (Naut.) The part of a ship which is ordinarily under water; hence, the vessel itself; a ship.

My ventures are not in one bottom trusted. --Shak.

Not to sell the teas, but to return them to London in the same bottoms in which they were shipped. --Bancroft.

Full bottom, a hull of such shape as permits carrying a large amount of merchandise.

9. Power of endurance; as, a horse of a good bottom.

10. Dregs or grounds; lees; sediment. --Johnson.

At bottom, At the bottom, at the foundation or basis; in reality. "He was at the bottom a good man." --J. F. Cooper.

To be at the bottom of, to be the cause or originator of; to be the source of. [Usually in an opprobrious sense.] --J. H. Newman.

He was at the bottom of many excellent counsels. --Addison.

To go to the bottom, to sink; esp. to be wrecked.

To touch bottom, to reach the lowest point; to find something on which to rest.

Bottom

Bot"tom\, a. Of or pertaining to the bottom; fundamental; lowest; under; as, bottom rock; the bottom board of a wagon box; bottom prices.

Bottom glade, a low glade or open place; a valley; a dale. --Milton.

Bottom grass, grass growing on bottom lands.

Bottom land. See 1st Bottom, n., 7.

Bottom

Bot"tom\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Bottomed (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Bottoming.]

1. To found or build upon; to fix upon as a support; -- followed by on or upon.

Action is supposed to be bottomed upon principle. --Atterbury.

Those false and deceiving grounds upon which many bottom their eternal state]. --South.

2. To furnish with a bottom; as, to bottom a chair.

3. To reach or get to the bottom of. --Smiles.

Bottom

Bot"tom\, v. i. 1. To rest, as upon an ultimate support; to be based or grounded; -- usually with on or upon.

Find on what foundation any proposition bottoms. --Locke.

2. To reach or impinge against the bottom, so as to impede free action, as when the point of a cog strikes the bottom of a space between two other cogs, or a piston the end of a cylinder.

Bottom

Bot"tom\, n. [OE. botme, perh. corrupt. for button. See Button.] A ball or skein of thread; a cocoon. [Obs.]

Silkworms finish their bottoms in . . . fifteen days. --Mortimer.

Bottom

Bot"tom\, v. t. To wind round something, as in making a ball of thread. [Obs.]

As you unwind her love from him, Lest it should ravel and be good to none, You must provide to bottom it on me. --Shak.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : bottom
Spanish: fondo,
German: der Boden,
Japanese: 底
More Translations »

bottom 
O.E. botm, bodan "ground, soil, lowest part," from P.Gmc. *buthm- (cf. O.Fris. boden "soil," O.N. botn, O.H.G. bodam, Ger. Boden "ground, earth, soil"), from PIE base *bhu(n)d(h)- (cf. Skt. budhnah, Avestan buna- "bottom," Gk. pythmen "foundation," L. fundus "bottom, piece of land, farm," O.Ir. bond "sole of the foot"). Meaning "posterior of a man" is from 1794; the verb "to reach the bottom of" is from 1808. Bottom dollar "the last dollar one has" is from 1882.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Bottom

The lowest point or price reached by a financial security, commodity, index or economic cycle in a given time period, which is followed by a steady increase.

Investopedia Commentary

If a stock has "bottomed out" it means it has reached its low point and is now in the early stages of an upward trend.

The bottom is the lowest level of support when charting a stock, commodity, index or economic cycle.

Related Links

An Option Strategy for Trading Market Bottoms
Market Reversals And How To Spot Them
Capitulation Defined

See also: Bear Market, Bottom Fisher, Capitulation, Flight to Quality, In the Penalty Box, Panic Selling, Recession

Investopedia.com. Copyright © 1999-2005 - All rights reserved. Owned and Operated by Investopedia Inc.
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bottom

The lowest price to which a stock, market index, or another asset will sink. Compare top.

Wall Street Words: An A to Z Guide to Investment Terms by David L. Scott.
Copyright © 2003. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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bottom theory
The least defined element in a given domain.
Often used to represent a non-terminating computation.
(In LaTeX, bottom is written as perp, sometimes with the domain as a subscript).
(1997-01-07)

The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, © 1993-2007 Denis Howe
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bottom

In addition to the idioms beginning with bottom, also see at bottom; from head to toe (top to bottom); from the bottom of one's heart; get to the bottom; hit (touch) bottom; knock the bottom out of; rock bottom; touch bottom; you bet your ass (bottom dollar).

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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