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Webster 1913 Edition

Bottom

Bot′tom

(bŏt′tŭm)
,
Noun.
[OE.
botum
,
botme
, AS.
botm
; akin to OS.
bodom
, D.
bodem
, OHG.
podam
, G.
boden
, Icel.
botn
, Sw.
botten
, Dan.
bund
(for
budn
), L.
fundus
(for
fudnus
), Gr.
πυθμήν
(for
φυθμήν
), Skr.
budhna
(for
bhudhna
), and Ir.
bonn
sole of the foot, W.
bon
stem, base. √257. Cf. 4th
Found
,
Fund
,
Noun.
]
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.
Shakespeare
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.
Macaulay.
No two chairs were alike; such high backs and low backs and leather
bottoms
and worsted
bottoms
.
W. Irving.
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.]
Dryden.
7.
Low land formed by alluvial deposits along a river; low-lying ground; a dale; a valley.
“The bottoms and the high grounds.”
Stoddard.
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.
Shakespeare
Not to sell the teas, but to return them to London in the
same
bottoms
in which they were shipped.
Bancroft.
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.
Johnson.
At bottom
,
At the bottom
,
at the foundation or basis; in reality.
“He was at the bottom a good man.”
J. F. Cooper.
–
To be at the bottom of
,
to be the cause or originator of; to be the source of.
[Usually in an opprobrious sense.]
J. H. Newman.

He
was at the bottom of
many excellent counsels.
Addison.
–
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.

Bot′tom

,
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.
Milton.
–
Bottom grass
,
grass growing on bottom lands.
–
Bottom land
.
See 1st
Bottom
,
Noun.
, 7.

Bot′tom

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Bottomed
([GREEK]);
p. pr. & vb. n.
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.
Atterbury.
Those false and deceiving grounds upon which many
bottom
their eternal state].
South.
2.
To furnish with a bottom;
as, to
bottom
a chair
.
3.
To reach or get to the bottom of.
Smiles.

Bot′tom

,
Verb.
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
.
Locke.
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.

Bot′tom

,
Noun.
[OE.
botme
, perh. corrupt. for
button
. See
Button
.]
A ball or skein of thread; a cocoon.
[Obs.]
Silkworms finish their
bottoms
in . . . fifteen days.
Mortimer.

Bot′tom

,
Verb.
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.
Shakespeare

Webster 1828 Edition

Bottom

BOT'TOM

,
Noun.
1.
The lowest part of any thing; as the bottom of a well, vat or ship; the bottom of a hill.
2.
The ground under any body of water; as the bottom of the sea, of a river or lake.
3.
The foundation or ground work of any thing, as of an edifice,or of any system or moral subject; the base, or that which supports any superstructure.
4.
A low ground; a dale; a valley; applied in the U. States to the flat lands adjoining rivers, &c. It is so used in some parts of England.
5.
The deepest part; that which is most remote from the view; as, let us examine this subject to the bottom.
6.
Bound; limit.
There is no bottom in my voluptuousness.
7.
The utmost extent or depth of cavity, or of intellect, whether deep or shallow.
I do see the bottom of justice Shallow.
8.
The foundation, considered as the cause, spring or origin; the first moving cause; as, a foreign prince is at the bottom of the confederacy.
9.
A ship or vessel. Goods imported in foreign bottoms pay a higher duty, than those imported in our own. Hence, a state of hazard,chance or risk; but in this sense it is used chiefly or solely in the singular. We say, venture not too much in one bottom; that is, do not hazard too much at a single risk.
10. A ball of thread.
11. The bottom of a lane or alley, is the lowest end. This phrase supposed a declivity; but it is often used for the most remote part, when there is very little declivity.
12. The bottom of beer, or other liquor,is the grounds or dregs.
13. In the language of jockeys, stamina, native strength; as a horse of good bottom.

BOT'TOM

,
Verb.
T.
To found or build upon; to fix upon as a support; followed by on; as, sound reasoning is bottomed on just premises.
1.
To furnish with a seat or bottom; as, to bottom a chair.
2.
To wind round something, as in making a ball of thread.

BOT'TOM

,
Verb.
I.
To rest upon, as its ultimate support.
Find on what foundation a proposition bottoms.

Definition 2024

bottom

bottom

English

Alternative forms

  • botton (dialectal)

Noun

bottom ‎(countable and uncountable, plural bottoms)

  1. The lowest part from the uppermost part, in either of these senses:
    1. (Can we clean up(+) this sense?) The part furthest in the direction toward which an unsupported object would fall.
      • Macaulay
        barrels with the bottom knocked out
      • Washington Irving
        No two chairs were alike; such high backs and low backs and leather bottoms and worsted bottoms.
    2. (Can we clean up(+) this sense?) The part seen, or intended to be seen, nearest the edge of the visual field normally occupied by the lowest visible objects, as "footers appear at the bottoms of pages".
  2. (uncountable, Britain, slang) Character, reliability, staying power, dignity, integrity or sound judgment.
    lack bottom
  3. (Britain, US) A valley, often used in place names.
    Where shall we go for a walk? How about Ashcombe Bottom?
    • Stoddard
      the bottoms and the high grounds
  4. The buttocks or anus.
  5. (nautical) A cargo vessel, a ship.
  6. (nautical) Certain parts of a vessel, particularly the cargo hold or the portion of the ship that is always underwater.
    • Shakespeare
      My ventures are not in one bottom trusted.
    • Bancroft
      Not to sell the teas, but to return them to London in the same bottoms in which they were shipped.
  7. (baseball) The second half of an inning, the home team's turn to bat.
  8. (BDSM) A submissive in sadomasochistic sexual activity.
  9. (LGBT, slang) A man penetrated or with a preference for being penetrated during homosexual intercourse.
  10. (physics) A bottom quark.
  11. (often figuratively) The lowest part of a container.
    • 2011 December 21, Helen Pidd, “Europeans migrate south as continent drifts deeper into crisis”, in the Guardian:
      In Ireland, where 14.5% of the population are jobless, emigration has climbed steadily since 2008, when Lehman Brothers collapsed and the bottom fell out of the Irish housing market. In the 12 months to April this year, 40,200 Irish passport-holders left, up from 27,700 the previous year, according to the central statistics office. Irish nationals were by far the largest constituent group among emigrants, at almost 53%.
  12. A ball or skein of thread; a cocoon.
    • Mortimer
      Silkworms finish their bottoms in […] fifteen days.
  13. The bed of a body of water, as of a river, lake, or sea.
  14. An abyss.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Dryden to this entry?)
  15. (obsolete) Power of endurance.
    a horse of a good bottom
  16. (obsolete) Dregs or grounds; lees; sediment.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Johnson to this entry?)

Synonyms

Antonyms

Derived terms

Translations

bed of a body of water

Verb

bottom ‎(third-person singular simple present bottoms, present participle bottoming, simple past and past participle bottomed)

  1. To fall to the lowest point.
    • John J. Murphy, Intermarket Analysis: Profiting from Global Market Relationships (2004) page 119:
      The Dow Jones Industrial Average bottomed on September 24, 2001. The CRB Index bottomed on October 24.
  2. To establish firmly; to found or justify on or upon something; to set on a firm footing; to set or rest on or upon something which provides support or authority.
    • Atterbury
      Action is supposed to be bottomed upon principle.
    • South
      those false and deceiving grounds upon which many bottom their eternal state
    • United States. Congress. House. Committee on the Judiciary. Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law, Executive Orders and Presidential Directives, (2001) p.59.
      Moreover, the Supreme Court has held that the President must obey outstanding executive orders, even when bottomed on the Constitution, until they are revoked.
  3. (intransitive) To rest, as upon an ultimate support; to be based or grounded.
    • John Locke
      Find on what foundation any proposition bottoms.
  4. (intransitive) 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.
  5. (obsolete, transitive) To wind round something, as in making a ball of thread.
    • Shakespeare
      As you unwind her love from him, / Lest it should ravel and be good to none, / You must provide to bottom it on me.
  6. (transitive) To furnish with a bottom.
    to bottom a chair
  7. To be the submissive in a BDSM relationship or roleplay.
  8. To be anally penetrated in gay sex.

Translations

Adjective

bottom ‎(not comparable)

  1. The lowest or last place or position.
    Those files should go on the bottom shelf.

Translations

See also

Portuguese

Noun

bottom m (plural bottons)

  1. button (a badge worn on clothes)

Synonyms

Etymology

From Middle English bottom, botome, botme, bothom, bothum, botham, from Old English botm, bodan ‎(“ground, soil, lowest part”), from Proto-Germanic *butmaz (compare Old Norse botn, Swedish botten), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰud-, a variant of Proto-Indo-European *bʰudʰ-, *bʰudʰmḗn. The other Proto-Germanic variant of the root, *budm-, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰudʰ-, must have given rise to Dutch bodem ‎(“bottom, ground”), Old Frisian boden ‎(“soil”), German Boden ‎(“ground, earth, soil”). For cognate in other branches in Indo-European, compare Sanskrit बुध्न ‎(budhna), Ancient Greek πυθμήν ‎(puthmḗn, “foundation”), Latin fundus ‎(“bottom, piece of land, farm”), Old Irish bond ‎(“sole of the foot”), Albanian bythë ‎(“butt, end, bottom”). Meaning "posterior of a man" is from 1794; the verb "to reach the bottom of" is from 1808. Bottom dollar "the last dollar one has" is from 1882.

Pronunciation

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