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

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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]

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

bottle up

Thomas Tuchel claimed you could bottle up England's mentality and sell it.

From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026

He could throw down a dunk, hit a 3-pointer, snare a crucial rebound and bottle up the other team’s best scorer, all in the same game.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 11, 2026

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

From Barron's ● Nov. 2, 2025

It would create a sweeping system intended to bottle up illegal immigration.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 19, 2024

‘Here is frobscottle!’ he cried, holding the bottle up proud and high, as though it contained some rare wine.

From "The BFG" by Roald Dahl

Related Words

• repress
• suppress