bottle

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈbɒt.əl/, US /ˈbɑː.t̬əl/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English botel,^[2][3] borrowed from Old French boteille (“wine vessel”), bouteille (12th century),^[4][2] from Medieval Latin butticula (Vulgar Latin *butticula, also the source of Spanish botella and Italian bottiglia),^[4][2][5] a diminutive of Late Latin buttis “cask, wineskin”,^[4][2][6] which is perhaps from Greek.^[4] It is related to butt “cask” and butler, first the servant in charge of the bottles.^[2][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

A narrow-necked vessel for liquids, at first of leather: about 1375 in the OED,^[8] about 1380 in Barnhart, in Sir Ferumbras,^[2] the mid-14th century in Etymonline.^[4] The compound botelmaker is from 1346.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The spelling with tt appears in the late 15th century.^[2] Biblical phrases with bottle, after Job and Matthew, are from 1560.^[8] The bottle, figuratively strong drink, is from the 17th century,^[4] and the quantity a bottle holds from 1687.^[8] The verb meant to store up as if in a bottle in 1622, figuratively, and to put in bottles in 1641;^[2] Barnhart notes that a verb appearing some 250 years after the noun suggests a gap in the record.^[2] A baby's feeding bottle is from 1848, and a hot-water bottle from 1857.^[4][8] Bottle-washer is from 1837 and bottle-opener from 1875.^[4] British slang bottle, courage, nerve, and lose one's bottle are from the 1950s, perhaps from rhyming slang bottle and glass “arse”.^[7]

Timeline

• 1346 – botelmaker.^[2]
• c. 1375 – a bottle.^[8]
• late 15th century – the spelling with tt.^[2]
• 1622 – verb, figurative.^[2]
• 1641 – verb, to put in bottles.^[2]
• 1687 – a bottleful.^[8]
• 1848 – a baby's bottle.^[4][8]
• 1950s – slang, courage.^[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A container, usually of glass or plastic, with a narrow neck and a mouth that can be closed.
2. The amount a bottle holds.
3. A bottle of milk or formula for feeding a baby.
4. the bottle: alcoholic drink, or the habit of drinking it.
5. (British slang) Courage, nerve.

Verb

1. To put into bottles.
2. bottle up: to hold in or restrain (feelings).
3. (British slang) bottle out: to lose one's nerve.

Word family

• bottler
• bottleful
• bottlelike
• bottling
• rebottle

Related words

• butler
• butt
• bottleneck

Usage notes

A dialect bottle, a bundle of hay or straw, is a different word, from French botel, a diminutive of bote “bundle”.^[3][9] Bottle “dwelling”, from Old English, survives only in place-names such as Harbottle and Walbottle.^[8][9]

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)