bottle

¹ American  

[bot-l] / ˈbɒt l /

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.

3. bottled cow's milk, milk formulas, or substitute mixtures given to infants instead of mother's milk.

   raised on the bottle.

4. the bottle, intoxicating beverages; liquor.

   He became addicted to the bottle.

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verb (used with object)

bottled, bottling

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 phrase

1. bottle up

   1. to repress, control, or restrain.

      He kept all of his anger bottled up inside him.

   2. to enclose or entrap.

      Traffic was bottled up in the tunnel.

idioms

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

bottle ² American  

[bot-l] / ˈbɒt l /

noun

Architecture.

1. boltel.

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bottle ¹ British  

/ ˈbɒtəl /

noun

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

   2. ( as modifier )

      a bottle rack

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

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

   2. the contents of such a container

      the baby drank his bottle

4. short for magnetic bottle

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

6. slang money collected by street entertainers or buskers

7. slang well-informed and enthusiastic about something

8. informal drinking of alcohol, esp to excess

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verb

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

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

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

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

bottle ² British  

/ ˈbɒtəl /

noun

1. dialect a bundle, esp of hay

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bottle More Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing bottle

• crack a bottle
• hit the bottle

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Other Word Forms

• bottlelike adjective
• well-bottled adjective

Etymology

Origin of bottle

1325–75; Middle English botel < Anglo-French; Old French bo ( u ) teille < Medieval Latin butticula, equivalent to Late Latin butti ( s ) butt ⁴ + -cula -cule ¹

Explanation

A bottle is a container, often made of glass, that gets narrower toward the top. You can choose to buy soda in cans or bottles. Some people drink chocolate milk from a bottle, and others prefer to sip a bottle of beer. Babies drink from a bottle that's made of glass or plastic and topped with a nipple. To bottle something is to put or store it — usually a liquid or a gas — in bottles. Colloquially, someone "hits the bottle" when they drink too much alcohol. And if you keep your feelings to yourself, you can say you tend to "bottle things up."

Example Sentences

Nanning duly reports to the local doctor’s office, where he is granted a small bottle of the “medicine.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 16, 2026

Roo's bottle of vitamin D3 drops - which were about seven times more concentrated than they should have been - was from one of two bad batches distributed across the UK.

From BBC • Apr. 16, 2026

Black suit, white lights—he didn’t need anything more to bottle the magic hour on Saturday.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 13, 2026

"Now we can bottle them in water. What Breslow said all those years ago -- he was right."

From Science Daily • Apr. 11, 2026

Holding the bottle about a foot above the glass, Daisy started pouring.

From "Summer of the Monkeys" by Wilson Rawls

Related Words

• glass
• jar
• jug
• urn
• vial