bottle
1 Americannoun
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a portable container for holding liquids, characteristically having a neck and mouth and made of glass or plastic.
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the contents of such a container; as much as such a container contains.
a bottle of wine.
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bottled cow's milk, milk formulas, or substitute mixtures given to infants instead of mother's milk.
raised on the bottle.
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the bottle, intoxicating beverages; liquor.
He became addicted to the bottle.
verb (used with object)
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bottles,
present (3rd person singular)
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bottled,
past participle, past
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bottling
present participle
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to put into or seal in a bottle.
to bottle grape juice.
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British. to preserve (fruit or vegetables) by heating to a sufficient temperature and then sealing in a jar.
verb phrase
idioms
noun
noun
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a vessel, often of glass and typically cylindrical with a narrow neck that can be closed with a cap or cork, for containing liquids
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( as modifier )
a bottle rack
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Also called: bottleful. the amount such a vessel will hold
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a container equipped with a teat that holds a baby's milk or other liquid; nursing bottle
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the contents of such a container
the baby drank his bottle
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short for magnetic bottle
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slang nerve; courage (esp in the phrase lose one's bottle )
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slang money collected by street entertainers or buskers
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slang well-informed and enthusiastic about something
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informal drinking of alcohol, esp to excess
verb
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to put or place (wine, beer, jam, etc) in a bottle or bottles
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to store (gas) in a portable container under pressure
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slang to injure by thrusting a broken bottle into (a person)
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slang (of a busker) to collect money from the bystanders
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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bottlesimple
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bottlessimple
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have bottledperfect
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has bottledperfect
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am bottlingprogressive
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are bottlingprogressive
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is bottlingprogressive
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have been bottlingperfect progressive
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has been bottlingperfect progressive
Past
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bottledsimple
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had bottledperfect
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was bottlingprogressive
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were bottlingprogressive
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had been bottlingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of bottle
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
Explanation
A bottle is a container, often made of glass, that gets narrower toward the top. You can choose to buy soda in cans or bottles. Some people drink chocolate milk from a bottle, and others prefer to sip a bottle of beer. Babies drink from a bottle that's made of glass or plastic and topped with a nipple. To bottle something is to put or store it — usually a liquid or a gas — in bottles. Colloquially, someone "hits the bottle" when they drink too much alcohol. And if you keep your feelings to yourself, you can say you tend to "bottle things up."
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.
See Examples For:
I see neighborhood wine bars packed over one bottle, sold-out tastings and cocktail bars where people wait an hour for a seat.
From Salon ● Aug. 15, 2026
To quote infectious disease expert Jake Scott of Stanford Medicine, “every vaccine given at a baby’s two-month visit adds up to about half a teaspoon. A 20-ounce soda bottle is more than 200 times that.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026
“Then you go into the bottle service Paris Hilton of it all,” Willetts says.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2026
“On the one hand, I like the premium glass, iconic bottle that we have. On the other hand, we’ve cheapened it by adding a plastic cap to it. We will be rectifying that.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026
He held the small bottle against his heart.
From "The Way to Rio Luna" by Zoraida Cordova
The vineyard's harvests have already been shrinking over the years, dropping to around 5,000 litres -- enough for about 40,000 bottles -- compared to around 6,000 litres in the past.
From Barron's ● Aug. 16, 2026
Makers of corks, capsules and bottles have been hit because overall U.S. wine volume has continued to decline, McMillan said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026
As the mains outages take effect, people have been queuing at water tanker trucks sent to affected regions to fill up large bottles.
From BBC ● Aug. 9, 2026
“There are storm clouds on the ground, but rainbows and sunshine in the air,” said Mark Coleman, chief commercial officer at Intervine, which helps wineries get their bottles on airlines like Delta and United.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
Tables displayed empty vials and bottles awaiting elixirs.
From "The Marvellers" by Dhonielle Clayton
Homemade vinaigrette is quick, inexpensive and generally much better than the bottled kind.
From Salon ● Aug. 5, 2026
"I have bottled water and other supplies," Matsuura said, adding he would "stay scared and cautious for the next few days" in case another big quake strikes.
From Barron's ● Jul. 30, 2026
“Plastics are everywhere,” she said, adding that bottled water is also not subject to the same EPA regulations as tap.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026
The company said it was delivering bottled water to vulnerable customers.
From BBC ● Jul. 26, 2026
But whenever I thought the time was right, my mouth went dry and my throat squeezed up and the words I’d planned to say stayed bottled up inside.
From "Wish" by Barbara O'Connor
Bottle bio: This 100% Glera bottling from Italy’s prestigious Veneto region showcases apple and white fruit on the nose.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 3, 2026
Net revenue increased 12% to $12.5 billion—mostly driven by strong sales of concentrates, the syrups and flavor mixtures Coca-Cola sells to its bottling partners—ahead of the $12.2 billion Wall Street had forecast.
From Barron's ● Apr. 27, 2026
Does it count as bottling if you were never in front?
From BBC ● Apr. 13, 2026
So at the same time as worrying about their male classmates "bottling things up", girls are also feeling scared about how some boys and men - aping Manosphere behaviours - might act.
From BBC ● Apr. 12, 2026
The locations were changed but the settings were alike—a strip of wasteland bordered by rows of rotted shacks, and somewhere near a mill, a cotton gin, or a bottling plant.
From "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" by Carson McCullers
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.
