Online dictionaryOnline dictionary
Synonyms, antonyms, pronunciation

  Home
English Dictionary      examples: 'day', 'get rid of', 'New York Bay'




Bottom   /bˈɑtəm/   Listen
noun
Bottom  n.  
1.
The lowest part of anything; the foot; as, the bottom of a tree or well; the bottom of a hill, a lane, or a page. "Or dive into the bottom of the deep."
2.
The part of anything which is beneath the contents and supports them, as the part of a chair on which a person sits, the circular base or lower head of a cask or tub, or the plank floor of a ship's hold; the under surface. "Barrels with the bottom knocked out." "No two chairs were alike; such high backs and low backs and leather bottoms and worsted bottoms."
3.
That upon which anything rests or is founded, in a literal or a figurative sense; foundation; groundwork.
4.
The bed of a body of water, as of a river, lake, sea.
5.
The fundament; the buttocks.
6.
An abyss. (Obs.)
7.
Low land formed by alluvial deposits along a river; low-lying ground; a dale; a valley. "The bottoms and the high grounds."
8.
(Naut.) The part of a ship which is ordinarily under water; hence, the vessel itself; a ship. "My ventures are not in one bottom trusted." "Not to sell the teas, but to return them to London in the same bottoms in which they were shipped."
Full bottom, a hull of such shape as permits carrying a large amount of merchandise.
9.
Power of endurance; as, a horse of a good bottom.
10.
Dregs or grounds; lees; sediment.
At bottom, At the bottom, at the foundation or basis; in reality. "He was at the bottom a good man."
To be at the bottom of, to be the cause or originator of; to be the source of. (Usually in an opprobrious sense.) "He was at the bottom of many excellent counsels."
To go to the bottom, to sink; esp. to be wrecked.
To touch bottom, to reach the lowest point; to find something on which to rest.



Bottom  n.  A ball or skein of thread; a cocoon. (Obs.) "Silkworms finish their bottoms in... fifteen days."



adjective
Bottom  adj.  Of or pertaining to the bottom; fundamental; lowest; under; as, bottom rock; the bottom board of a wagon box; bottom prices.
Bottom glade, a low glade or open place; a valley; a dale.
Bottom grass, grass growing on bottom lands.
Bottom land. See 1st Bottom, n., 7.



verb
Bottom  v. t.  (past & past part. bottomed; pres. part. bottoming)  
1.
To found or build upon; to fix upon as a support; followed by on or upon. "Action is supposed to be bottomed upon principle." "Those false and deceiving grounds upon which many bottom their eternal state)."
2.
To furnish with a bottom; as, to bottom a chair.
3.
To reach or get to the bottom of.



Bottom  v. t.  To wind round something, as in making a ball of thread. (Obs.) "As you unwind her love from him, Lest it should ravel and be good to none, You must provide to bottom it on me."



Bottom  v. i.  
1.
To rest, as upon an ultimate support; to be based or grounded; usually with on or upon. "Find on what foundation any proposition bottoms."
2.
To reach or impinge against the bottom, so as to impede free action, as when the point of a cog strikes the bottom of a space between two other cogs, or a piston the end of a cylinder.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








Advanced search
     Find words:
Starting with
Ending with
Containing
Matching a pattern  

Synonyms
Antonyms
Quotes
Words linked to  

only single words



Share |
Add this dictionary
to your browser search bar





"Bottom" Quotes from Famous Books



... was in absolute stillness. The passages were silent and ghostly in the faint light of my candle; but as I reached the bottom of the stairs I heard the sound of other footsteps, and Mr. Gaskell met me. He was fully dressed, and had evidently not been to bed. He took me kindly by the hand and said, "I feared you might be alarmed by the sound of music. John has been walking ...
— The Lost Stradivarius • John Meade Falkner

... me own word? Hut! I'll break ye in two, ye wisp o' straw, if ye doubt me word to a lady. There's me note av hand, and ye shall have me fist on it, in writin', at Freddy Tarlton's office, wid a blotch av red an' the Queen's head at the bottom. McGuire!" he said again, and paused, puffing his lips ...
— The Judgment House • Gilbert Parker

... before the door of the little Hotel de Turenne, in the Rue Vivienne. The occupant, who had just alighted, was about to enter the hotel, when the hunt, who was standing before the door, with his hands plunged to the very bottom of his breeches pockets, stopped the way, and, not very politely, inquired ...
— Joseph II. and His Court • L. Muhlbach

... dawn the corral gates were thrown open and in a short time all the men engaged reported. Some of them were put to work dumping the heavy iron filings into the big oak gas generators and Ned and Alan began the delicate work of laying out the bag, bottom side up the thin silken folds of the golden shell were slowly lifted and laid on the ground. When the bottom filling valve had been attached to the wooden gas conduits the mammoth sections of the long gas receptacle were stretched out on top ...
— The Air Ship Boys • H.L. Sayler

... through shadows of vain imaginings. He thought he was dead, and lying on the ever-dark face of the moon, in the centre of a funnel, formed by the solar rays, which streaked away to the infinite; and at the dark bottom of this funnel he saw the flaming eyes of the stars. Little by little be realised he was on an enormous bed which stood in darkness, but was surrounded by a pale light, so dim that the walls were hardly visible. Great shadows were moving about him. Opposite him ...
— The Saint • Antonio Fogazzaro


More quotes...



Copyright © 2025 Dictionary One.com