bottle

English Online Dictionary. What means bottle‎? What does bottle mean?

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈbɒt.əl/
• (General American, Canada) enPR: bŏtʹəl, IPA^(key): /ˈbɑ.təl/
• (Indic) IPA^(key): /ˈbɒʈɨl/
• Rhymes: -ɒtəl
• Hyphenation: bot‧tle

Etymology 1

From Middle English botel (“bottle, flask, wineskin”), from Old French boteille, from Late Latin butticula, diminutive of buttis (“cask”). Doublet of botija.

Displaced native Old English ampella and pinne. Broadly overtook Old English flasce.

Noun

bottle (plural bottles)

2. A container, typically made of glass or plastic and having a tapered neck, used primarily for holding liquids.
3. The contents of such a container.

4. A container with a rubber nipple used for giving liquids to infants, a baby bottle.
5. (British, informal) (originally "bottle and glass" as rhyming slang for "arse") Nerve, courage.

6. (attributive, of a person with a particular hair color) A container of hair dye, hence with one’s hair color produced by dyeing.

7. (figurative) Intoxicating liquor; alcohol.

Synonyms

• (for feeding babies): baby's bottle, feeding bottle, nursing bottle (US)
• (courage): balls, courage, guts, nerve, pluck

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of “courage”): cowardice

Derived terms

Related terms

• butler
• butt (large cask)

Descendants

• Bislama: botel
• Jamaican Creole: bokl, bakl
• Sranan Tongo: batra
  • Aukan: bataa
  • → Kari'na: patere
• Tok Pisin: botol

Borrowings

Translations

See also

• 🍼
• flagon
• flask
• jar

Verb

bottle (third-person singular simple present bottles, present participle bottling, simple past and past participle bottled)

1. (transitive) To seal (a liquid) into a bottle for later consumption. Also fig.
2. (transitive, British) To feed (an infant) baby formula.

3. (British, slang) To refrain from doing (something) at the last moment because of a sudden loss of courage.

4. (British, slang, sports) To throw away a leading position.

5. (British, slang) To strike (someone) with a bottle.

6. (British, slang) To pelt (a musical act on stage, etc.) with bottles as a sign of disapproval.

7. (printing, intransitive) Of pages printed several on a sheet: to rotate slightly when the sheet is folded two or more times.

Derived terms

• bottle away
• bottle down
• bottle it
• bottle off
• bottle out
• bottle up
• bottleable
• bottling
• rebottle
• your blood's worth bottling

Translations

References

• “bottle”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022. (premium)

Etymology 2

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.

Noun

bottle (plural bottles)

1. (UK, dialectal or obsolete) A dwelling; habitation.
2. (UK, dialectal) A building; house.

Etymology 3

From Middle English botel (“bundle (of hay)”), from Old French botel, ultimately related to modern French botte (“bundle”).

Noun

bottle (plural bottles)

1. (obsolete) A bundle, especially of hay; something tied in a bundle.
   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:bottle.