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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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:
"Everyone loves her. She's just a big bottle of light in every room," he says.
From BBC ● Jul. 26, 2026
"I don't know how they're going to put the genie back in the bottle," Lee told AFP.
From Barron's ● Jul. 23, 2026
A PhD student in Sydney has produced cosmic dust from scratch by recreating a small piece of the universe inside a laboratory bottle.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 19, 2026
To make a bottle of elderflower liqueur go farther, add a splash or two to fruit desserts like strawberries or grilled stone fruit.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026
His emotions were gathered in his chest like a ship in a bottle.
From "The Way to Rio Luna" by Zoraida Cordova
Some OpenAI developers hacked the site to get 200 water bottles, so it had to be rebooted.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026
In the heart of the Yopougon industrial zone on the outskirts of the capital Abidjan, women working on a production line fill thousands of bottles of shea butter-based cosmetics.
From Barron's ● Jul. 20, 2026
During the war, service members consumed more than five billion bottles of Coke.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 19, 2026
"We have been in this business for 16 years," said Fayrouz El-Sayed, chief executive of Sadat City Chemical Fibre Factory, which produces polyester fibres from used plastic bottles.
From Barron's ● Jul. 18, 2026
I offer him one of my mostly full bottles.
From "Keeping Pace" by Laurie Morrison
Roger Fielding, a professor of nutrition at Tufts University, said there’s no evidence that elite brands have any sort of biological or physiological advantage over other bottled waters.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026
Studies have found that bottled water contains higher levels of microplastics than tap.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026
A passenger at the airport, Paul Lee, told the BBC he had not heard any announcements about the issue or seen bottled water being handed out.
From BBC ● Jul. 26, 2026
The six companies, all Italian, were fashion company Harmont & Blaine, supermarket chains Il Gigante, MD, Oasi and Pro7 and bottled gas distributor Butan Gas.
From Barron's ● Jul. 17, 2026
He unlocked a tall glass cabinet crammed with more books, preserved birds, bottled beasts, and other curios.
From "The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate" by Jacqueline Kelly
Distillery workers have been reassigned to bottling, and the company is experimenting with new ways to sell its bourbon, including pushing flavored varieties.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 17, 2026
Coca-Cola reported higher first-quarter profit, boosted by growth in sales of concentrates, which it sells to bottling partners.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 28, 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
Shadow thought there was a lot to be said for bottling up emotions.
From "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman
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.
