bottle

¹

[bot-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.

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.

bottle

²

[bot-l]

noun

Architecture.

1. boltel.

bottle

¹

/ 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

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

/ ˈbɒtəl /

noun

1. dialect,  a bundle, esp of hay

Other Word Forms

• bottlelike adjective
• well-bottled adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of bottle¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of bottle¹

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

Origin of bottle²

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

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

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

More idioms and phrases containing bottle

• crack a bottle
• hit the bottle

Example Sentences

Balmer had admitted to officials that he removed petrol from a lawn mower and poured it into beer bottles to make Molotov cocktails he used in the attack, Pennsylvania State Police said.

Read more on BBC

Then again, so did pretty much everything — land, a gallon of gasoline, a bottle of whiskey, French francs, and so on.

Read more on MarketWatch

“Hi, can I ask you a quick question—what would you do if your boyfriend smelled like this?” he said in one breath, brandishing an open bottle.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

More than two decades after their peak, the music of Yellowcard is a pop punk message in a bottle.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

US law enforcement in turn contacted British police, who raided the defendant's flat in Potters Field and found an "abduction kit" complete with cable ties and bottles of chloroform.

Read more on BBC

Related Words

• glass 
• jar 
• jug 
• urn 
• vial