bottle

English

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From Middle English bottle, botle, buttle, from Old English botl, bold (“abode, house, dwelling-place, mansion, hall, castle, temple”), from Proto-Germanic *budlą, *buþlą, *bōþlą (“house, dwelling, farm”), from Proto-Indo-European *bhōw- (“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 byldan (“to build, construct”). More at build.

Noun

bottle (plural bottles)

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

Etymology 2

Anglo-Norman and Old French boteille (Modern French bouteille), from Vulgar Latin *botticula, ultimately of disputed origin. Probably a diminutive of Late Latin buttis.

Alternative forms

  • botl (Jamaican English)

Noun

bottle (plural bottles)

  1. A container, typically made of glass and having a tapered neck, used for holding liquids.
    Beer is often sold in bottles.
  2. The contents of such a container.
    I only drank a bottle of beer.
  3. A container with a rubber nipple used for giving liquids to infants
    The baby wants a bottle.
  4. (UK, informal) Nerve, courage.
    You don't have the bottle to do that!
    He was going to ask her out, but he lost his bottle when he saw her.
  5. (attributive, of a person with a particular hair color) With one's hair color produced by dyeing.
    Did you know he's a bottle brunette? His natural hair color is strawberry blonde.
  6. (obsolete) A bundle, especially of hay; something tied in a bundle.
    • End of the 14th century, The Canterbury Tales, by Chaucer, The Manciple's Prologue and Tale
      Is that a Cook of London, with mischance?
      Do him come forth, he knoweth his penance;
      For he shall tell a tale, by my fay,
      Although it be not worth a bottle hay.
    • 1599, Much Ado About Nothing, by William Shakespeare, Act 1 Scene 1
      DON PEDRO. Well, if ever thou dost fall from this faith, thou wilt prove a notable argument.
      BENEDICK. If I do, hang me in a bottle like a cat and shoot at me; and he that hits me, let him be clapped on the shoulder and called Adam.
    • 1590s, Doctor Faustus, by Marlowe
      I was no sooner in the middle of the pond, but my horse vanished away, and I sat upon a bottle of hay, never so near drowning in my life.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Derived terms
Terms derived from the noun bottle
Translations
container used for holding liquids
contents of such a container
container with a rubber nipple used for giving liquids to infants
nerve, courage
(obsolete) bundle (especially of hay)
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked
See also

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.
    This plant bottles vast quantities of spring water every day.
  2. (transitive, UK) To feed (an infant) baby formula.
    Because of complications she can't breast feed her baby and so she bottles him.
  3. (UK, slang) To refrain from doing (something) at the last moment because of a sudden loss of courage.
    The rider bottled the big jump.
  4. (UK, slang) To strike (someone) with a bottle.
    He was bottled at a nightclub and had to have facial surgery.
  5. (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.
Derived terms
Translations
seal (a liquid) into a bottle for later consumption
feed (an infant) baby formula
refrain from doing (something) at the last moment because of a sudden loss of courage
strike (someone) with a bottle
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked
↑Jump back a section
Last modified on 19 May 2013, at 23:32