bottle
UK /ˈbɒtəl/ · US /ˈbɑtəl/ noun, verb
Forms bottles bottling bottled boddle
- noun A container, typically made of glass or plastic and having a tapered neck, used primarily for holding liquids. “Beer is often sold in bottles.”
- noun The contents of such a container. “I only drank a bottle of beer.”
- noun A container with a rubber nipple used for giving liquids to infants, a baby bottle. “The baby wants a bottle.”
- noun (UK, informal) (originally bottle and glass as rhyming slang for "arse") Nerve, courage. “You don’t have the bottle to do that!”
- noun (attributive, of a person with a particular hair color) A container of hair dye, hence with one’s hair color produced by dyeing. “Did you know he’s a bottle brunette? His natural hair color is strawberry blonde.”
- noun (figurative) Intoxicating liquor; alcohol. “to drown one’s troubles in the bottle”
- verb (transitive) To seal (a liquid) into a bottle for later consumption. Also fig. “This plant bottles vast quantities of spring water every day.”
- verb (transitive, UK) To feed (an infant) baby formula. “Because of complications she can't breast feed her baby and so she bottles him.”
- verb (UK, slang) To refrain from doing (something) at the last moment because of a sudden loss of courage. “The rider bottled the big jump.”
- verb (UK, slang, sports) To throw away a leading position. “Arsenal bottled the Premier League.”
- verb (UK, slang) To strike (someone) with a bottle. “He was bottled at a nightclub and had to have facial surgery.”
- verb (UK, slang) To pelt (a musical act on stage, etc.) with bottles as a sign of disapproval. “Meat Loaf was once bottled at Reading Festival.”
- verb (printing, intransitive) Of pages printed several on a sheet: to rotate slightly when the sheet is folded two or more times.
- noun (UK, dialectal or obsolete) A dwelling; habitation.
- noun (UK, dialectal) A building; house.
- noun (obsolete) A bundle, especially of hay; something tied in a bundle.
Synonyms
balls courage guts nerve pluck baby's bottle feeding bottle nursing bottle bottleful
Antonyms
Etymology
From Middle English botel (“bottle, flask, wineskin”), from Old French boteille, from Late Latin butticula, diminutive of buttis (“cask”). Doublet of botija.
Displaced native pinne and non-native Old English ampella. Partially displaced Old English flasce.
From Middle English bottle, botel, buttle, from Old English botl (“building, house”), from Proto-West Germanic *bōþl, from Proto-Germanic *budlą, *buþlą, *bōþlą (“house, dwelling, farm”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰōw- (literally “to swell, grow, thrive, be, live, dwell”).
Cognate with North Frisian budel, bodel, bol, boel (“dwelling, inheritable property”), Dutch boedel, boel (“inheritance, estate”), Danish bol (“farm”), Icelandic ból (“dwelling, abode, farm, lair”). Related to Old English bytlan (“to build”). More at build.
From Middle English botel (“bundle (of hay)”), from Old French botel, ultimately related to modern French botte (“bundle”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun A hollow vessel, usually of glass or earthenware (but formerly of leather), with a narrow neck or mouth, for holding liquids.
- noun The contents of a bottle; as much as a bottle contains; as, to drink a bottle of wine.
- verb To put into bottles; to inclose in, or as in, a bottle or bottles; to keep or restrain as in a bottle; as, to bottle wine or porter; to bottle up one's wrath.
- noun A bundle, esp. of hay. [Obs. or Prov. Eng.] Chaucer. Shak.
Etymology [OE. bote, botelle, OF. botel, bouteille, F. bouteille, fr. LL. buticula, dim. of butis, buttis, butta, flask. Cf. Butt a cask.]
Etymology [OE. botel, OF. botel, dim. of F. botte; cf. OHG. bozo bunch. See Boss stud.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “bottle”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details