In Britain, Bottle Means Courage
A bottle is a narrow-necked container. British slang gave the word an entirely separate meaning: nerve.
A bottle is a container with a narrow neck. British slang built a second word on top of it: *bottle* means courage, so you can lose your bottle or bottle out of something. The origin is disputed, with rhyming slang the usual explanation, but the usage is universal in Britain and baffling almost everywhere else.
- A narrow-necked container. *A glass bottle.*
- To put into bottles. *Bottled at source.*
- Courage (British slang). *He lost his bottle.*
- To suppress. *Bottle up your feelings.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | bottle | An empty bottle. |
| Plural | bottles | Glass bottles. |
| Verb | bottle | Bottle the wine. |
| Phrasal | bottle up | Bottle up anger. |
| Phrasal | bottle out | He bottled out. |
How it is used in a sentence
- He bottled it at the last minute.British: lost his nerve.
- Do not bottle things up.Suppress emotion.
- A bottleneck slows everything.The narrow part restricts flow.
Bottle expressions
- Lose your bottle — lose your nerve
- Bottle it — fail through nerves
- Bottleneck — a point of restriction
- Bottled up — feelings kept in
- Hit the bottle — start drinking heavily
From Old French *boteille*, from Late Latin *butticula*, a small cask, from *buttis* — also the source of *butt* in the sense of a large barrel.
Why does bottle mean courage?
The origin is uncertain. Rhyming slang is the usual explanation, and the sense has been established in British speech for over a century.
What is a bottleneck?
The narrow neck of a bottle, and by extension any point in a system where flow is restricted.