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:
Consumers are choosing RTDs to limit their total cash spend, even though the larger bottle gives more bang for their buck.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 4, 2026
In the heat and humidity of Florida’s Kennedy Space Center, that meant the shuttle stack would start to drip like a water bottle on a muggy day.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 28, 2026
The candidate has said the gesture was a joke performed with a water bottle.
From Barron's ● Oct. 28, 2026
They brought over a bottle of wine after the tree was removed, which was kind, though it was a $9 bottle for a job that would have cost them several hundred dollars.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 25, 2026
Jonathan stared for a few moments at the bottle, and then closed his eyes, remembering.
From "Earthquake Terror" by Peg Kehret
For example, building materials and boxed water — which, Arnaquq-Baril says, was chosen over plastic bottles to leave “less toxic garbage in the Arctic” — were shipped by sealift.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 6, 2026
Today, brands selling everything from gummies to sneakers and water bottles try to become part of the zeitgeist.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 4, 2026
Sports commentator Yan cast doubt on whether the reputation of Mbappe, whose face has adorned drinks bottles and advertising campaigns in China, can ever fully recover.
From Barron's ● Oct. 29, 2026
And the city has removed many of the huge street-corner bins where Parisians are accustomed to dropping their empty wine and beer bottles.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 28, 2026
At the top, I pull one of the bottles out of my belt and pretend I’m too preoccupied with drinking water to answer his question.
From "Keeping Pace" by Laurie Morrison
Qatari liquefied-natural gas shipments remain bottled up inside the Persian Gulf, and a global surge in energy prices has continued even with more oil shipments passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 2, 2026
But he’s bottled here in a role that requires him to be unexciting.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 22, 2026
She had bottled up her emotions for months, afraid that leaning in to them would draw unwanted attention and distract her from the task of helping her son.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
So, perhaps the biggest lesson here is that recovery cannot be bottled and sold.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 14, 2026
They paddled back to Claiborne, passing a full case of bottled water bobbing in the middle of the waterway.
From "Zeitoun" by Dave Eggers
He said it may hand off more of its bottling in some regions, even as it tests in Texas whether to merge its snack and drink delivery networks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 17, 2026
Those spirits look poised to benefit from that same workaround tied to bulk shipments and U.S.-based bottling operations.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 25, 2026
This ageworthy bottling delivers big acidity, with notes of lime zest, white blossom, tangerine and grilled lemon.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 21, 2026
It’s distilled and matured in the Canadian province of Manitoba, but then shipped in large containers to bottling facilities in the U.S. for distribution to American customers.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 9, 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
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
