bottle-feed
Americanverb (used with object)
-
to nurse or feed (an infant or young animal) with milk or other nourishment from a nursing bottle.
-
to nurture or teach with exaggerated care.
We had to bottle-feed the new salesman on how to make door-to-door calls.
verb (used without object)
verb
Etymology
Origin of bottle-feed
First recorded in 1860–65
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:
In an email, Mike Ridgway, the child’s father, said he had given Ramirez “space to both nurse and to pump milk for me to bottle-feed our daughter while she is in my care.”
From Washington Post ● Feb. 1, 2023
Or bottle-feed a joey on Australia’s Kangaroo Island?
From New York Times ● Jan. 12, 2023
Are you going to breastfeed or bottle-feed or some combination of both?
From Slate ● Sep. 22, 2020
MeoowzResQ agreed to foster and bottle-feed the puppies, authorities said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 22, 2019
Over coffee they shiver: they themselves are fastidious, they will bottle-feed, which is anyway more sanitary.
From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood
Zoo biologist Michele Viana introduced me directly to Miguel, who was raised by hand and bottle-fed in rehab.
From Slate ● May 27, 2026
Five of the lambs are now being bottle-fed in a neighbouring pen, while two remain with their mother, who Frankland described as "knackered" after the birth.
From BBC ● May 8, 2026
“The nutrition of every bottle-fed infant in America is at stake.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 17, 2026
The infant manatees had to be bottle-fed every four hours.
From New York Times ● Mar. 7, 2024
He ordered the calf bottle-fed, washed himself in a pail, and got back on his horse.
From "The House of the Spirits: A Novel" by Isabel Allende
But now we found ourselves bottle-feeding Hayden, as we named him, four times a day and later celebrating his successful use of the litter box like the proudest of parents.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 22, 2026
Mr Wilkins is unusually natural on camera, happily introducing an episode while bottle-feeding two lambs.
From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2025
“Past the age of 6 months I will continue to support breastfeeding and bottle-feeding our daughter breast milk as much as possible, while also supplementing with formula only when absolutely necessary,” he wrote.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 1, 2023
“Your eyelashes freeze in minutes out here,” said Ms. Agan, adding that the biggest challenge was keeping her fingers warm, even in thick gloves, while bottle-feeding some of the calves.
From New York Times ● Dec. 23, 2022
Mrs. Ortiz often fostered infants, so she spent many hours bottle-feeding them.
From "Three Little Words: A Memoir" by Ashley Rhodes-Courter
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.
