bottle
noun · verb
Simple meaning
A glass or plastic vessel used for storing drinks or other liquids.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
bahtuhlSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈbɑtəl
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A glass or plastic vessel used for storing drinks or other liquids; typically cylindrical without handles and with a narrow neck that can be plugged or capped
A container, typically made of glass or plastic and having a tapered neck, used primarily for holding liquids.
The contents of such a container.
attributiveof a person with a particular hair color
A container of hair dye, hence with one's hair color produced by dyeing.
figurative
Intoxicating liquor; alcohol.
britishinformaloriginally bottle and glass as rhyming slang for "arse"
Nerve, courage.
verb
transitive
To seal (a liquid) into a bottle for later consumption. Also fig.
transitivebritish
To feed (an infant) baby formula.
britishslang
To refrain from doing (something) at the last moment because of a sudden loss of courage.
britishslang
To pelt (a musical act on stage, etc.) with bottles as a sign of disapproval.
britishslang
To strike (someone) with a bottle.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A2 · Elementary (estimated)
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- General English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A glass or plastic vessel used for storing drinks or other liquids; typically cylindrical without handles and with a narrow neck that can be plugged or capped
Used this way, bottle is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a nautical use: it is standard at sea and largely unfamiliar ashore.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Clinical and technical
- Usage feel
- Technical and specialized
Where it naturally appears
- Sailing/maritime
- Technical/specialist writing
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use bottle
- “The baby wants a bottle.”noun
- “Beer is often sold in bottles.”noun
- “I only drank a bottle of beer.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Given milk from a bottle.
Gentian of eastern North America having tubular blue or white flowers that open little if at all.
Old World climbing plant with hard-shelled bottle-shaped gourds as fruits.
European foxtail naturalized in North America.
Dark to moderate or greyish green.
Any of several dolphins with rounded forehead and well-developed beak.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.