Bottom

Pronunciation

• RP IPA: /ˈbÉ’tÉ™m/
• GenAm IPA: /ˈbÉ‘tÉ™m/, ˈbɑɾəm

Origin

Old English botm, bodan ("ground, soil, lowest part"), from Proto-Germanic *butm- (compare Old Norse botn, Swedish botten), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰud-, a variant of Proto-Indo-European *bʰudʰ-. 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, Ancient Greek πυθμήν (puthmēn, "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.

Full definition of bottom

Noun

1. The lowest part from the uppermost part, in either of these senses:
1. The part furthest in the direction toward which an unsupported object would fall.
• Macaulaybarrels with the bottom knocked out
• Washington IrvingNo two chairs were alike; such high backs and low backs and leather bottoms and worsted bottoms.
2. 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".
3. (uncountable, British, slang) Character, reliability, staying power, dignity, integrity or sound judgment.lack bottom
4. (British, US) a valley, often used in place names.Where shall we go for a walk? How about Ashcombe Bottom?
• Stoddardthe bottoms and the high grounds
5. (euphemistic) The buttocks or anus.
6. (nautical) a cargo vessel, a ship.
• 1881, , :We sail in leaky bottoms and on great and perilous waters; ...
7. (nautical) certain parts of a vessel, particularly the cargo hold or the portion of the ship that is always underwater.
• ShakespeareMy ventures are not in one bottom trusted.
• BancroftNot to sell the teas, but to return them to London in the same bottoms in which they were shipped.
8. (baseball) The second half of an inning, the home team's turn to bat.
9. (BDSM) A submissive in sadomasochistic sexual activity.
10. (LGBT, slang) A man penetrated or with a preference for being penetrated during homosexual intercourse.
11. (physics) A bottom quark.
12. (often figuratively) The lowest part of a container.
• 2011, December 21, Helen Pidd, Europeans migrate south as continent drifts deeper into crisis, 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%.
13. A ball or skein of thread; a cocoon.
• MortimerSilkworms finish their bottoms in ... fifteen days.
14. The bed of a body of water, as of a river, lake, or sea.
15. An abyss.
16. (obsolete) Power of endurance.a horse of a good bottom
17. (obsolete) Dregs or grounds; lees; sediment.

Synonyms

• (lowest part) base
• (buttocks) arse (British, Australian, NZ), ass, fanny (North American), backside, bot, bott, botty, bum, buttocks
• (buttocks, British, euphemistic) sit upon, derriere
• (BDSM) catcher
• (LGBT) catcher, passive, pathic, uke Japanese fiction

Antonyms

• (lowest part) top
• (BDSM) top
• (LGBT) active, pitcher, top, versatile

Related terms

Verb

1. To fall to the lowest point.
• John J. Murphy, Intermarket Analysis: Profiting from Global Market Relationships (2004) p. 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.
• AtterburyAction is supposed to be bottomed upon principle.
• Souththose 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 LockeFind 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.
• ShakespeareAs 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.

Adjective

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