bottle1
[bot-l]
- 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.
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- 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.
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- bottle up,
- to repress, control, or restrain: He kept all of his anger bottled up inside him.
- to enclose or entrap: Traffic was bottled up in the tunnel.
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- hit the bottle, Slang. to drink alcohol to excess often or habitually.
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Origin of bottle1
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
bottle up
- to restrain (powerful emotion)
- to keep (an army or other force) contained or trappedthe French fleet was bottled up in Le Havre
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bottle1
- 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 containerthe baby drank his bottle
- short for magnetic bottle
- British slang nerve; courage (esp in the phrase lose one's bottle)
- British slang money collected by street entertainers or buskers
- full bottle Australian slang well-informed and enthusiastic about something
- the bottle informal drinking of alcohol, esp to excess
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- 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)
- British slang (of a busker) to collect money from the bystanders
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See also bottle out, bottle up
Word Origin
C14: from Old French botaille, from Medieval Latin butticula literally: a little cask, from Late Latin buttis cask, butt 4
bottle2
- dialect a bundle, esp of hay
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Word Origin
C14: from Old French botel, from botte bundle, of Germanic origin
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
Word Origin and History for bottle up
bottle
n.
mid-14c., originally of leather, from Old French boteille (12c., Modern French bouteille), from Vulgar Latin butticula, diminutive of Late Latin buttis "a cask," which is perhaps from Greek. The bottle, figurative for "liquor," is from 17c.
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bottle
v.
1640s, from bottle (n.). Related: Bottled; bottling.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Idioms and Phrases with bottle up
bottle up
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]
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bottle
In addition to the idiom beginning with bottle
- bottle up
also see:
- crack a bottle
- hit the bottle
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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.