bottle it
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.57 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To suppress an action or expression, especially when due to lack of courage.
British usage; Informal; Slang
verb
To fail in an embarrassing way in a crucial situation, especially due to nerves.
British usage; Informal; Slang
Example Sentences
- "For a while, it was a three-horse race and, if anything, it looked like José Mourinho's Chelsea were the team to beat. Chelsea bottled it, Liverpool beat Manchester City and the title was theirs to lose ... which they did in that match against Chelsea."
- "If you want to win Wimbledon, you have to be controlled mentally, but he's too volatile. He's just not a level-headed guy out there. He's had many chances and he's always bottled it."
Etymology
From Cockney rhyming slang bottle and glass, originally meaning arse. lose one's nerve was vulgarly lose one's arse, euphemised to lose one's bottle, clipped to bottle and subsequently given a dummy pronoun. See bottle.