Phrasal verb
bottle it
Definition
phrasal verb. to lose your courage at the last moment and decide not to do something you planned.
phrasal verb. to fail to perform or to withdraw from a commitment due to a sudden loss of nerve or confidence. This is a highly idiomatic phrasal verb common in British English, often used in sporting or high-pressure contexts.
Examples
“He was going to jump, but he bottled it at the last second.”
“She had practiced her speech for weeks, but she bottled it when she saw the size of the crowd.”
“Despite their early lead, the team seemed to bottle it in the final ten minutes, allowing the opposition to score twice.”
Examples
simple
“He was going to jump, but he bottled it at the last second.”
contextual
“She had practiced her speech for weeks, but she bottled it when she saw the size of the crowd.”
complex
“Despite their early lead, the team seemed to bottle it in the final ten minutes, allowing the opposition to score twice.”
Usage
The pronoun 'it' is a fixed part of the phrase and does not refer to a specific object.
Teaching tip
Explain that 'it' is dummy syntax here; you cannot 'bottle a race' or 'bottle the jump' in this sense—you simply 'bottle it'.
Pitfall
He bottled to jump.
He bottled it and didn't jump.
The phrase is typically used alone or followed by a coordinating conjunction, not followed by an infinitive verb.
Phrasal verb
Particles
it
Separability
inseparable
Pattern
bottle + it
Synonyms
Antonyms
Grammar
Scan code
englishreference.com/q/bottle-it