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Synonyms

bottle up

British  

verb

  1. to restrain (powerful emotion)

  2. to keep (an army or other force) contained or trapped

    the French fleet was bottled up in Le Havre
"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
bottle up Idioms  

  1. Repress, contain, hold back; also, confine or trap. For example, The psychiatrist said Eve had been bottling up her anger for years, or The accident bottled up traffic for miles. This idiom likens other kinds of restraint to liquid being contained in a bottle. [Mid-1800s]

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.

So the establishment decided to bottle up the flavours of its "fermentation lab" and "test kitchen".

From Barron's • Nov. 2, 2025

But the Bruins find a way better than anyone else to bottle up the Panthers.

From Seattle Times • May 5, 2024

“I want to bottle up what their family taught them,” Close said after Gabriela scored seven points with five rebounds and three steals during UCLA’s second-round win against Oklahoma.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 23, 2023

She had a metaphor for this tendency to bottle up emotions.

From New York Times • Mar. 18, 2023

She smiled, raised the Coke to her lips, and tipped the bottle up.

From "Okay for Now" by Gary D. Schmidt

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.