bottle cap

American  

noun

• bottle caps
  plural

1. a device for closing or sealing a bottle, especially a metal cover with a cork gasket fitting tightly over the mouth of a glass or plastic bottle, held in place by crimping the edge of the cap over the lip or flange of the bottle.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• bottle caps
  plural

Etymology

Origin of bottle cap

An Americanism dating back to 1925–30

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

bottle cap

There’s a predictable resistance of In my day we fished with a wooden stick and a bottle cap and caught fish the size of Buicks, etc.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026

A bottle cap or crease in a potato chip bag is fair game.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 22, 2026

“During our experiments with tactile sensors,” he says, “we found that tasks like unstacking cups and opening a bottle cap were significantly harder—and perhaps more useful—than rotating objects.”

From Scientific American ● Jul. 31, 2023

Their preferred LiDAR device was designed for surveyors, so powerful it can accurately scan the dimensions of a bottle cap sitting on a window sill 60 stories up.

From Seattle Times ● Dec. 9, 2022

Tally somersaulted in the air, turning headfirst for a few terrifying moments, her face passing low enough to spot a discarded bottle cap in the grass.

From "Uglies" by Scott Westerfeld