1. A receptacle having a narrow neck, usually no handles, and a mouth that can be plugged, corked, or capped.
2. The quantity that a bottle holds.
3. A receptacle filled with milk or formula that is fed, as to babies, in place of breast milk.
4. Informal.
   1. Intoxicating liquor: Don't take to the bottle.
   2. The practice of drinking large quantities of intoxicating liquor: Her problem is the bottle.

1. To place in a bottle.
2. To hold in; restrain: bottled up my emotions.

[Middle English botel, from Old French botele, from Medieval Latin butticula, diminutive of Late Latin buttis, cask.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.