bottle
1 Americannoun
-
a portable container for holding liquids, characteristically having a neck and mouth and made of glass or plastic.
-
the contents of such a container; as much as such a container contains.
a bottle of wine.
-
bottled cow's milk, milk formulas, or substitute mixtures given to infants instead of mother's milk.
raised on the bottle.
-
the bottle, intoxicating beverages; liquor.
He became addicted to the bottle.
verb (used with object)
-
bottles,
present (3rd person singular)
-
bottled,
past participle, past
-
bottling
present participle
-
to put into or seal in a bottle.
to bottle grape juice.
-
British. to preserve (fruit or vegetables) by heating to a sufficient temperature and then sealing in a jar.
verb phrase
idioms
noun
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
-
-
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
-
-
short for magnetic bottle
-
slang nerve; courage (esp in the phrase lose one's bottle )
-
slang money collected by street entertainers or buskers
-
slang well-informed and enthusiastic about something
-
informal drinking of alcohol, esp to excess
verb
-
to put or place (wine, beer, jam, etc) in a bottle or bottles
-
to store (gas) in a portable container under pressure
-
slang to injure by thrusting a broken bottle into (a person)
-
slang (of a busker) to collect money from the bystanders
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
bottlesimple
-
bottlessimple
-
have bottledperfect
-
has bottledperfect
-
am bottlingprogressive
-
are bottlingprogressive
-
is bottlingprogressive
-
have been bottlingperfect progressive
-
has been bottlingperfect progressive
Past
-
bottledsimple
-
had bottledperfect
-
was bottlingprogressive
-
were bottlingprogressive
-
had been bottlingperfect progressive
Future
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
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Former NFL player Jason Kelce, a co-owner of Garage Beer, featured in a now-viral online video encouraging viewers to bottle up their urine to send to data centers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 29, 2026
He took me to the Arthur J and ordered an expensive bottle of French red wine and paid for our meal with cash.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2026
Minns had told a state parliamentary hearing on Thursday that crews had found Hooper alive "with half a bottle of water" eight days after she was reported missing.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
Handheld multitools are a great item to keep on hand, with many options featuring various knives, bottle openers, screwdrivers, and even scissors.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 20, 2026
He tossed the bottle lightly to Jonah, and Jonah caught it.
From "Found" by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Beer cans, bottles and other trash have blown from their property into his yard, he claimed, posing an aspiration risk because ostriches are attracted to shiny objects.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2026
Clanton strutted out with three water bottles, one of which he poured on Petering.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 24, 2026
“What did I get myself into?” he asked, finding kitchen equipment, furniture, clothes, bottles, a family picture, and wooden planks with nails pointing upward coating the floor.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026
He said the winery usually produces 2,500 to 3,000 bottles per year.
From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026
The eyes crinkled between the water bottles, and then they were gone.
From "The Light in Hidden Places" by Sharon Cameron
Outreach workers in green shirts handed him bottled water and hygiene kits.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2026
Homemade vinaigrette is quick, inexpensive and generally much better than the bottled kind.
From Salon ● Aug. 5, 2026
People can protect themselves while away by following good food and water hygiene measures, including drinking bottled water and eating thoroughly cooked food, even when staying in high-end all-inclusive resorts.
From BBC ● Jul. 30, 2026
"I have bottled water and other supplies," Matsuura said, adding he would "stay scared and cautious for the next few days" in case another big quake strikes.
From Barron's ● Jul. 30, 2026
Or you see people in Edmond who buy boxed cereal and bottled water, and you don’t even know where they poop.
From "Everything Sad Is Untrue" by Daniel Nayeri
Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower’s North African headquarters put forward an audacious plan: Construct war-zone Coca-Cola bottling plants near the soldiers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 19, 2026
Coca-Cola KO -1.55%decrease; red down pointing triangle reported higher first-quarter profit, boosted by growth in sales of concentrates, which it sells to bottling partners.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 28, 2026
Net revenue increased 12% to $12.5 billion—mostly driven by strong sales of concentrates, the syrups and flavor mixtures Coca-Cola sells to its bottling partners—ahead of the $12.2 billion Wall Street had forecast.
From Barron's ● Apr. 27, 2026
Does it count as bottling if you were never in front?
From BBC ● Apr. 13, 2026
At four o’clock on October 27 Doc finished bottling the last of a lot of jellyfish.
From "Cannery Row" by John Steinbeck
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
