bottle, n.³

 a. a bottle of smoke : an impossible, illusory, or evanescent thing or (occasionally) person; something without substance, a chimera.In quot. 1787, with reference to Psalm 119:83, ‘For I am become like a bottle in the smoke: yet doe I not forget thy statutes’ (King James Bible).

†b. to pass the bottle of smoke : to collude in a lie for the sake of appearances Obsolete. rare.Apparently only in Dickens.

 a. Also on a bottle. With reference to feeding a baby or young animal: by means of a feeding bottle; on a bottle-feeding regime. Cf. sense 1d.

 b. With reference to alcohol consumption: drinking heavily, esp. habitually. Cf. sense 3.

  bottle and spoon   n. (in the West Indies) an improvised percussion instrument consisting of a glass bottle, empty or partially filled with water, which is struck with a metal spoon.Often (and in earliest use) attributive.

† bottle-bellied adj. Obsolete

  bottle-shaped adj.

 a. Originally U.S. Modifying nouns denoting a person with a particular hair colour, indicating that the hair is dyed. Chiefly in bottle redhead, bottle brunette . See also bottle blonde n. 1.

 b. Preceding hair colours, forming adjectives (usually hyphenated), indicating that the hair is dyed. See also bottle blonde adj.

  bottle age   n. the time that a wine, or other alcoholic drink, has spent maturing in the bottle.

  bottle-aged adj. (of wine or another alcoholic drink) that has been aged in a bottle.

  bottle ale   n. now historical and rare ale that is stored or sold in a bottle, as opposed to a cask.In quot. 1600   used to express contempt.

  bottle baby   n.  (a) a baby fed with milk from a feeding bottle, rather than breastfed;  (b) originally U.S. slang an alcoholic; a drunkard.

  bottle bank   n. a receptacle (usually a large plastic or metal container), for depositing empty bottles and other glass items for recycling.

  bottle bearer   n. a person who carries or holds a bottle; spec. a person who serves wine, a butler (historical); cf. cup-bearer n.

  bottle belly   n. now somewhat rare a stomach shaped like a bottle, esp. one which is rounded or protuberant; cf. bottle-bellied adj. at Compounds 2.Recorded earliest in bottle-belly dropsy (= bottle dropsy n.).

  bottle bill   n. U.S. a legislative bill that ordains the reuse of bottles; spec. any of several state laws that require deposits to be paid on certain drinks containers (esp. glass bottles and aluminium cans) in order to encourage recycling.

  bottle bomb   n. a makeshift bomb consisting of a bottle filled with an explosive or flammable material; cf. Molotov cocktail at Molotov n. 1.

† bottle boot   n. Obsolete a leather or wooden case used in bottling wine, etc., to support the bottle while inserting a cork.

  bottle boy   n. a boy who assists with or collects bottles; spec.  (a) a boy employed at a public house, hotel, etc., or in a wine cellar;  (b) an assistant at a doctor's or pharmacist's dispensary (now historical).

  bottle cage   n. a holder for a bottle, consisting of a framework of wire, plastic, etc.; (now typically) a holder of this kind for a water bottle, fastened to a bicycle frame (cf. cage n. Additions).

  bottle carrier   n. a person who or thing which carries a bottle or bottles; spec.  †(a) (in early use) a person who serves wine, a butler (obsolete. rare);  (b) (later) a container or receptacle used for transporting bottles.

  bottle case   n. a protective case for a bottle or bottles.

  bottle charger   n. rare an apparatus for charging bottles with a liquid or gas under pressure.

  bottle chart   n. Nautical (now historical) a chart of ocean surface currents compiled from data obtained by plotting the course taken by bottles dropped into the water from ships; see note at bottle track n.

  bottle clay   n. now somewhat rare a type of clay used chiefly in the manufacture of earthenware bottles.

  bottle club   n. chiefly U.S. a drinking club where patrons or members bring their own alcoholic drink and are charged for admission, service, etc. (often as a means of evading licensing laws).

  bottle coaster   n. a decorative (esp. silverware) stand or small round tray for one or more bottles or decanters, on which bottles are placed or passed around the table; cf. coaster n. 6.

† bottle conjuror   n. Obsolete a magician who claims to be able to put himself inside an empty bottle; (hence) a charlatan, a fraudster.Originally with reference to a hoax at the Haymarket Theatre on 16 January 1749 (see quot. 1749), when a man advertised that he would put himself, by means of a magic trick, inside a quart bottle. The performer failed to appear, provoking a riot in which the theatre was gutted.

  bottle cooler   n. any of various devices or receptacles for chilling a bottle and its contents or for keeping them cool; esp. a wine cooler, or a refrigerator for bottles.

  bottle-drainer   n. a frame, rack, or similar apparatus in which bottles are placed upside down to drain.

  bottle drink   n.  †(a) an alcoholic drink (esp. beer), brewed in a bottle (obsolete);  (b) (in later use) U.S. a bottled soft drink.

† bottle dropsy   n. Obsolete rare = ascites n.; cf. bottle-belly dropsy.

  bottle-end   n. a thick, round disc of glass resembling the bottom of a bottle, used in glazing windows.

† bottle faucet   n. U.S. Obsolete a device which allows liquid to be drawn from a bottle without removing the cork, consisting of a small tap with a valve at one end and a hollow shank which is screwed into the cork.

  bottle filter   n. a bottle containing filtering material, or fitted with a filter, used to purify water or other liquids.

  bottle fish   n. a fish thought to resemble a leather bottle; spec.  (a) a boxfish (family Ostraciidae);  (b) a gulper eel, esp. Saccopharynx ampullaceus, which can stretch to accommodate very large prey.

  bottle garden   n. originally U.S. a collection of small house plants grown in a large, often sealed, glass bottle or globe; cf. terrarium n. 2.

  bottle glass   n.  †(a) a bottle-shaped glass vessel; a glass flask (obsolete);  (b) a type of soda-lime glass used for making bottles, frequently of a dark colour, typically dark green.

  bottle gourd   n. a bottle-shaped gourd, esp. Lagenaria siceraria, whose variably-shaped fruit can have the form of a bottle; also called calabash.

  bottle grass   n. U.S. a foxtail grass, esp. Setaria viridis.

  bottle heath   n. now rare any of several heathers of the genus Erica, whose flowers are thought to resemble bottles.

  bottle jack   n.  (a) a jack for roasting meat, whose mechanism is housed in a bottle-shaped casing (now historical);  †(b) an escapement in a clock or watch resembling the mechanism of a bottle jack (obsolete);  (c) a bottle-shaped hydraulic lifting jack.

  bottle kiln   n. a type of tall kiln having a round body tapering to a narrow chimney.Found esp. in the Staffordshire potteries in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

  bottle lamp   n. a lamp or lantern made from a glass bottle; spec.  (a) (chiefly Caribbean and South Asian) a home-made oil lamp consisting of a bottle half filled with kerosene and fitted with a cloth wick;  (b) an electric table lamp with a base made from an empty (wine) bottle fitted with a lamp holder and shade.

  bottle-maker   n. a person who or (in later use) business which makes bottles.The meaning of quot. c1340 at sense 1a   is given by the editor of the work cited as ‘hay-presser’ (cf. bottle n.⁴), but it seems more likely that it belongs here.

  bottleman   n. a man employed to assist with bottles; spec.  (a) a person who supervises, or is employed in, a wine or beer cellar (now historical);  †(b) a servant who brings wine to the table (obsolete).

  bottle nest   n. a bottle or sac-shaped bird's nest, such as that of the long-tailed tit, some weavers, and swallows.

† bottle-ore   n.  [ < bottle n.³ + ore n.⁵] British regional Obsolete a brown alga, esp. the bladderwrack, Fucus vesiculosus .

  bottle oven   n. = bottle kiln n.

  bottle party   n. a party or gathering where people drink (bottled) alcoholic drinks; spec.  (a) a party to which each guest brings a bottle of wine, or other alcoholic drink;  (b) a nightclub, bar, etc., where drinks ordered in advance are served after licensed hours (now historical).

  bottle pear   n. now historical a variety of long-necked pear.

  bottle rack   n. a rack for holding bottles; (sometimes) spec. a draining rack for washed bottles; cf. bottle-drainer n.

  bottle rocket   n.  (a) North American a small rocket firework, often discharged from an empty bottle;  (b) a model rocket made from an inverted plastic bottle that is partially filled with water, into which air is pumped until the resulting pressure forces the water out of the bottle's neck, propelling the bottle upwards; cf. water-rocket n.² 3.

  bottle room   n. a room for storing bottles, esp. bottles of wine, beer, etc.

  bottle service n. originally and chiefly U.S. the serving or purchase of alcoholic drinks by the bottle rather than the glass.Now often applied to such service in a bar or club, typically offering or incorporating table reservations, ice buckets, mixers, exclusively allocated waiting staff, etc.

  bottle shaker   n. a device for agitating or mixing liquids, esp. biological samples or cultures in a laboratory.

  bottle shop   n. now chiefly Australian, New Zealand, and South African a shop licensed to sell alcoholic drink (originally by the bottle, as opposed to smaller quantities) for consumption off the premises; an off-licence.

  bottle slide   n.  (a) = bottle coaster n.   (now historical)  (b) Music = bottleneck slide n. (b) at bottleneck n. Compounds 3.

  bottle slider   n. now historical = bottle coaster n.

  bottle stink   n. an unpleasant smell sometimes found in a wine immediately upon opening, which disappears after a short while.Typically caused by mould or bacterial spoilage in the cork; most often found in old red wines, and rare in modern wines.

  bottle stone   n.  [compare German Flaschenstein (1807 or earlier in this sense; 1746 or earlier in sense ‘bottle-shaped stone’), so named for its bottle-green colour] Mineralogy a green glassy mineral, typically moldavite.

† bottle-stoop   n. Obsolete rare a piece of equipment used in a pharmacy, consisting of a block of wood with a groove on the upper surface, designed to hold a wide-mouthed bottle inclined at an angle, so that powder can easily be extracted from it.

  bottle stopper   n. a cork, cap, bung, or other closure for a bottle.figurative in quot. 1660.

  bottle store   n.  (a) a room or building for storing bottles of wine, beer, etc.; spec. a storage area at a brewery, winemakers, etc.;  (b) chiefly Australian, New Zealand, and South African = bottle shop n.

  bottle swallow   n.  [ < bottle n.³ + swallow n.¹, with allusion to the bottle or retort-shaped nest of this bird] now rare the fairy martin, Petrochelidon ariel.

  bottle ticket   n. now chiefly historical a metal label, often of silver, hung on a chain round the neck of a decanter or bottle to indicate the drink (typically wine or spirits) that it contains.Common esp. in the 18th cent.; now more usually called a decanter label or wine label (cf. wine label n. (a) at wine n.¹ Compounds 2).

  bottle tit   n.  [ < bottle n.³ + tit n.⁴, with allusion to the oval bottle-shaped nest of this bird] now rare the long-tailed tit, Aegithalos caudatus.

  bottle tom   n.  [ < bottle n.³ + Tom n.¹, with allusion to the shape of the bird's nest] now rare = bottle tit n.

  bottle track   n. Nautical historical the track taken by a bottle dropped into the water from a ship for the purpose of charting ocean currents; cf. bottle chart n.Bottle tracks were plotted using information enclosed in the bottle about the ship's position at the time of release, together with the time and place of retrieval. See also drift-bottle n. at drift n. Compounds 2.

  bottle vase   n. a vase shaped like a bottle; spec. a type of Chinese vase having a pear-shaped body, a long narrow neck, and typically a flared lip.

  bottle warmer   n. a device for warming the milk in a baby's bottle to the correct temperature for feeding.

  bottle-windowed adj. somewhat rare having windows glazed with bottle-ends (bottle-end n.).

  bottle works   n. (with singular or plural agreement) a factory where bottles are made.

  ˈbottle-like adj. resembling or shaped like a bottle.