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:
"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
"It's like we have recreated a little bit of the Universe in a bottle in our lab."
From Science Daily ● Jul. 19, 2026
Thomas Tuchel claimed you could bottle up England's mentality and sell it.
From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026
Honorable mention: Norway’s star striker Erling Haaland, who went viral for bringing home a taxidermy raccoon holding a whiskey bottle that he reportedly bought for $750 from Wild Bill’s Western Store in Dallas.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 17, 2026
I use my water bottle as an excuse to buy myself time to think about what Pua is saying.
From "Clairboyance" by Kristiana Kahakauwila
His store was the first in New York City to stock Loonen, selling 2,700 bottles in its first two weeks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 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
It’s a stretchy black band that Velcros in place around my waist with four small water bottles held in little stirrups—two in the front and two in the back.
From "Keeping Pace" by Laurie Morrison
“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
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
The company announced at 10:40 that the rugby club water station was "temporarily closed" while they restock the bottled water.
From BBC ● Jul. 19, 2026
But those who want to can pick up the receiver to say out loud the emotions they’ve bottled inside — a chance to reflect, reminisce and, in a way, connect.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 6, 2026
He shoveled mounds of food into his mouth, chewing for a few seconds and then washing the large lumps down with gulps of bottled water.
From "Healer of the Water Monster" by Brian Young
“I think that the Notch is the most Scotch-like American single malt in flavor profile,” said Adam Polonski, co-founder of bottling house Lost Lantern Whiskey.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 16, 2026
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
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
Bill had a job in a bottling plant and made ten dollars a week.
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.
